No, the government hasn’t ordered ‘mandatory livestock reductions’ this month to cut emissions

Videos viewed thousands of times online falsely claim that the government has ordered mandatory reductions in farm livestock to cut emissions.

The videos are presented as an announcement from the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and show him supposedly saying that starting from 1 November, “the UK government has just declared war on its own farmers”.

The clips, which have been circulating on Facebook and TikTok, claim that under a new “climate compliance plan officials are ordering mandatory livestock reductions across the country”.

“That means fewer cows, fewer sheep, fewer farms, all in the name of cutting emissions”, the voiceover says, adding that farmers say they are being “forced to slaughter healthy animals”, and reduce herds up to 30% or face “crippling fines”.

But this isn’t a genuine policy. Mr Starmer has not made any such announcements, and it is likely his voice has been recreated with AI (although we cannot completely rule out it being created by other means). There are clues from the cadence of the audio that it isn’t real—and it is implausible the Prime Minister would criticise his own policy while announcing it.

We matched the opening clip to a speech Mr Starmer made in May, where he unveiled plans for tightened visa rules. He did not say anything about agriculture or climate policy in this speech.

The Climate Change Committee, an independent body which advises the government on emissions targets, did recommend reducing the number of cattle and sheep by 27% between 2023 and 2040, stating that reaching Net Zero across the agriculture and land sectors “requires a reduction in livestock numbers”. But while this recommendation was made in February, it has not been adopted as government policy.

There are no plans for livestock reductions in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s recently published Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan, which outlines how the government plans to meet its carbon budgets and reduce emissions from 2023 up to 2037.

Contrary to the claims in the video, this document specifically talks about improving the health of cattle, through improved fertility, and reducing mortality and morbidity.

It also includes other measures for reducing farm emissions such as using methane-suppressing feed products, and introducing grass or herbal leys in rotation, and reseeding temporary pasture with high sugar grass to increase livestock’s nitrogen usage efficiency. The plan also has details about using selective breeding to achieve lower methane emissions.

There were reports that the UK was due to announce a specific pledge at the COP30 climate summit to cut methane emissions from livestock by 30%, which the farming industry had said would require a 30% cut in ruminant numbers. But the government confirmed there were no plans for such an announcement.

We could find no evidence of this proposal being put forward by the current Labour government, or being enforced from this month.

There have previously been livestock culls to control animal diseases, such as during the foot-and-mouth outbreak which affected cattle in 2001, and earlier this year to contain bird flu.

These videos form part of a trend on social media we have been documenting, in which news presenters and politicians appear to reveal alarmist false policies, or new curbs on personal freedoms.

Before sharing videos like this that you see on social media, first consider whether they come from a trustworthy and verifiable source. Our Full Fact toolkit can help you do this.