CPF Director, Anna Firth, is joined by three leading political figures to debate the questions posed in the Conservative Policy Forum's latest paper on the Environment and Animal Welfare, and answer live questions posed by CPF members. 

If you would like to ask a question at this event please include it in your RSVP no later then Monday, 8th June at 5 pm.

The panelists for this event are:

Theresa Villiers MP, Former Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Theresa Villiers has been the MP for Chipping Barnet since 2005.  She was Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in Boris's first Cabinet from July 2019 until February 2020.  During this time she presented ground-breaking legislation to Parliament including the Environment Bill setting demanding new targets on cleaning up air quality and protecting nature and biodiversity, as well as legislation on farming and fishing which will see the UK leave the EU's CAP and CFP and replace those programmes with a better greener alternatives.

Before that Theresa was part of the campaign to leave the EU and in 2019, she was one of just 27 Eurosceptic Conservative MPs to vote against Theresa May's EU Withdrawal Agreement three times because it would have kept the UK indefinitely subject to EU rules without any say over them. She served in David Cameron’s cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from September 2012 until July 2016 during which she was responsible for delivering a successful G8 summit in Northern Ireland that resulted in an international agreement aimed at ensuring that big multinational businesses pay their fair share of tax.

Prior to that Theresa served as Minister of State for Transport from May 2010 until September 2012 .

Sir Roger Gale MP for North Thanet.

Sir Roger Gale has been the MP for North Thanet since 1983.  Prior to entering politics he was a producer and director of Current Affairs programmes for the BBC and a successful radio journalist. During his 24 years as a Member of Parliament he has served on the Home Affairs Select Committee and been appointed as a member of a wide range of bill committees ranging from media matters, press and PR through animal welfare, defence and criminal justice issues.

Roger has a longstanding interest and expertise in animal welfare issues.  He is the President of the Conservative Animal Welfare Group, an Honorary Member of the British Veterinary Association and of The League Against Cruel Sports.  He was also the Founding Chairman of the All Party Group for the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments.

He holds various honorary offices within a number of voluntary groups in his constituency, including St John Ambulance and has previously been a Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party.

Sam Hall, Chief Executive Officer of the Conservative Environment Network.

Sam joined CEN after having served as a Policy Adviser to Michael Gove when he was Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He was also the Head of Research at Bright Blue, leading their work on energy and the environment and authoring several policy reports. Before that, Sam was a Parliamentary Researcher for Graham Stuart MP.

 This event will be recorded and published online. By signing up to this event you are consenting to being visible and audible in that recording.