An animal welfare representative said the government is showing signs that there will not be proper protections against animal testing post-Brexit.

The UK is facing a £1 billion bill to replicate the EU’s chemical database after the government opted to leave the bloc’s REACH system on 31 December.

EU restricts use of eight chemicals, with 16 more in pipeline; UK has two under consideration.

A plan by Boris Johnson’s government to change the regulation of chemicals after Brexit risks making the UK a “dumping ground” for harmful substances, experts and campaigners have warned.

UK is ‘moving from a situation where we are a key player in all of this to an almost passive bystander with much less control over what goes onto the shelves’, says Prospect chief. / Harmful chemicals including bee-killing pesticides, skin irritants and hormone disruptors could be allowed into the UK following Brexit, experts have cautioned.