Why banning halal is a dumb idea

As you can imagine, my piece urging caution about a ban on non-stun slaughter has gone down like a lead balloon with the online right. Predictably, some of Rupert Lowe’s new supporters believe I arrived at this conclusion because I’m secretly Jewish. (News to me). But again, it’s one of those things where the more you think about the potential real world consequences, the less sensible it seems.

For starters, it’s not much use unless it’s in conjunction with a ban on halal import ban which is next to impossible to enforce. It will lead to small shipment smuggling through the ports (they'll break up large shipments into car boots). Unless you plan on having sniffer dogs set on every car coming off the ferry, you just have to accept that some will get through.

That, though, creates its own major food safety problems. This is already an acute problem. Record levels of illegally imported meat were discovered at the Kent border in January. Astonishingly, nearly 34 tonnes of the imported products were uncovered at the Port of Dover - the highest ever monthly total. Though the risk seems tenuous, there is a risk that such meat exposes UK livestock to diseases like swine fever if remnants are used in animal feed. It does happen. The threat is serious enough for the border force to do regular sweeps.

Moreover, halal meat could even come in through normal channels undetected. As I understand it, there is no EU stipulation to label meat as halal - and certification is very easily forged anyway. The horsemeat scandal ran for years. We detected horsemeat with a chemical test, but there is no forensic test for halal slaughter. As such, while you can stop the practice of halal in the UK, it just means it’s being sourced from god knows where, and from god only knows what kind of conditions. It’s net negative for overall animal welfare.

If then, you have this massive liability, you’re going to need to significantly beef up (scuse the pun) the National Food Crimes Unit and border force freight inspection, effectively making it a food version of the FBI, while quadrupling the local authority inspectorate headcount.

I noted a report a little while back that said more than 2,000 food hygiene inspections in a county's restaurants, cafes and takeaways were overdue. West Northamptonshire Council is responsible for carrying out inspections on all food premises, with the highest risk locations required to have a visit at least every six months. However, the council's food safety team has been unable to address a backlog of 2,061 food hygiene inspections, including 585 new, unrated premises that have never received an official visit by an inspector. I’m sure the national picture looks similar.

As such, it would be helpful to know if the National Food Crimes Unit is to be included in Mr Lowe's "bonfire of quangos" - and if increasing the various inspectorate headcouts runs counter to his intention to "brutalise the size of the state". Is Restore Britain happy to expose Britain to another FMD outbreak?

As much as anything, there are political and public order implications to an outright ban. Almost immediately, Moslem-owned butchers, mini-malls and take-aways will go out of business. What happens when three million Moslems suddenly can’t get halal meat? Do the online right seriously think they will just up sticks and leave? Or is the intention to provoke public order problems?

As per my original piece, I favour properly regulated and segregated halal facilities amid a broader restructuring of the meat industry, perhaps even introducing blockchain style food security systems to enforce proper labelling and traceability. If that is then concurrent with a ban on public sector organisations using halal as default for general consumption, it massively erodes the economies of scale for halal slaughterhouses - which can also be put under closer welfare supervision.

A boiling frog approach is much more practical and politically sensible than outright confrontation. The hostile environment remigration strategy must be multi-pronged and cannot hinge on any one measure. Regardless of how successful any deportation policy is, British Moslems will be here for a long time to come, and whether we like it or not, we are obliged to keep the peace.