MPs React After Flood of Demands to Ban CO₂ Gas Chambers for Pigs

In three weeks, more than 3,000 Project Slingshot supporters wrote to their MPs demanding an end to CO₂ gas chambers.

MPs have responded, tabling Parliamentary Questions, writing to Defra, and telling us they spotted Diane Morgan’s poster on the Tube.

The email action runs alongside a petition calling for a ban on CO₂ pig slaughter, which has now gathered more than 17,000 signatures, and, to be clear, is 17,000 more than the industry would prefer.

A Consultation. Sometime. Probably.

The government’s own Animal Welfare Committee has been calling for an end to CO₂ pig slaughter since 2003, citing the extreme suffering involved. Since then, use of the gas has only increased. Today, approximately 90 per cent of pigs are slaughtered this way. It’s interesting how often corporate profit seems to trump the government’s own advisers.

In December 2025, the government published its new Animal Welfare Strategy, which included a commitment to consult on phasing out CO₂ as a method of slaughter. However, no date has been set. No timeline or road map for any phase-out has been proposed. The commitment exists in the same way that many government commitments exist: warmly, vaguely, and without a diary entry attached. An aspiration, perhaps. Or just a good headline.

Slingshot supporters have demanded two things of MPs: publicly support an end to gas chambers, and formally ask Defra when, precisely, this consultation is going to happen.

Westminster acknowledges the screaming

Andrew George, MP for St. Ives, has confirmed he has written to the Environment Secretary, Emma Reynolds, to seek clarity on when the consultation will take place and what timescale the government is considering for a phase-out.

Fleur Anderson, MP for Putney, has committed to tabling a Written Parliamentary Question on the date of the CO₂ consultation when Parliament returns to session.

Peter Lamb, MP for Crawley, stated he has written directly to Defra and raised the specific questions outlined in constituents’ emails.

Vikki Slade, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, described noticing Project Slingshot’s posters during her own travels on the London Underground, featuring actor Diane Morgan, and said she agreed that the absence of a clear timeline for the consultation “raises concerns.”

Sir Jeremy Hunt, the former Chancellor, and MP for Godalming and Ash, said he hoped the government would “work closely with the industry to help ensure the transition away from carbon dioxide is both achievable and affordable,” and committed to following the issue’s progress.

John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, stated: “It’s well over time that the infliction of this dreadful pain on these animals is halted.”

And Neil Duncan-Jordan, MP for Poole, perhaps most directly, cut through the industry framing altogether: “We’ve been told for decades that CO₂ gas chambers are humane. The pigs screaming inside tell a different story.”

What happens next?

For now, we keep ramping up the pressure on the industry and parliament. The volume of constituents who have contacted their MPs in just three weeks signals something that may be harder for ministers to ignore: that this is no longer a niche animal welfare concern. It is reaching people who had never previously heard of a gas chamber in a British slaughterhouse, and who, once they do, are not inclined to stay quiet about it.

Project Slingshot’s petition and email action to MPs calling for a ban on CO₂ gas chambers for pigs can be found on our Take Action page.