17 Feb 2026
A vet and MP warned of “extreme alarm” over the Government’s approach following the launch of the new process.
Allister Webb
Job Title
The headquarters of Defra, the Home Office and other departments in Marsham Street, Westminster, London. Image: Nigel Harris / Adobe Stock
A senior government vet has insisted legislative reform plans will help the sector, despite fears the issue is being “conflated” with wider concerns about its operations.
Defra has been accused of causing “real distress” to professionals by linking modernisation of the Veterinary Surgeons Act to the ongoing Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation.
But deputy CVO Ele Brown said the department was “absolutely listening to feedback” as she encouraged clinicians to engage with the current consultation process.
She urged professionals to look beyond current media headlines in a new Vet Times podcast, adding: “It [the consultation] is about supporting the profession.
“There’s a lot of good things in there that will really help us and support us as vets in our daily lives.
“Please do read the consultation and do submit a response. We are absolutely listening to feedback.”
Although the consultation was widely welcomed at the time of its launch last month, some sector stakeholders fear Defra may be emulating the CMA by lacking what one major group called “key context and information” as it embarks on the reform process.
Vet and shadow Defra minister Neil Hudson also warned of “extreme alarm” within the sector over departmental communications which he claimed had “conflated” legislatlve reform with the CMA investigation during recent Parliamentary questions.
But speaking prior to those comments, Miss Brown said the department had taken the current act as far as it could with measures that it can implement through secondary legislation and a different approach was now needed to address concerns on issues such as practice regulation and protection of the veterinary nurse title.
She continued: “We need to open up that primary act, rewrite that act, to bring in those things that we, as a profession really care about.”
Miss Brown insisted the process was “not just about the CMA and the money”, but acknowledged the authority’s work had helped to push the issue up the political agenda.
She said: “Having the consultation and the CMA… gives us something really tangible that we can present to our ministers to find that Parliamentary slot for new legislation.”
For the full interview, part of the latest Vet Times Podcast, click below or find it in our podcast section.
The consultation remains open until 25 March.
