Cats Protection’s Senior Advocacy & Digital Campaigns Officer Stefan Blakiston Moore said: “As the UK’s leading cat charity, Cats Protection speaks up for the nation’s 10.8 million pet cats and their owners, and looks forward to working with Liz Truss’s new Government on issues to help cats and their owners.

“Animal welfare is an important issue for a huge number of people in the UK, who want to see it taken seriously by politicians and decision makers. With the announcement that Liz Truss is to become the new Prime Minister, Cats Protection is keen to ensure the UK continues to work towards becoming a world leader in this area. In particular, we would like to see that new regulations to introduce compulsory microchipping of pet cats are finally introduced as previously promised. This was a Conservative Party manifesto commitment in 2019 and was due to be introduced during 2022.

“Cats Protection would also like the Government to push ahead with the Kept Animals Bill as soon as possible and amend it to ensure that cats are being given the same protections that are being proposed for dogs when it comes to pet theft and pet smuggling.”