As a new law to prevent lobster cruelty was being debated in Parliament Metro Mayor Dan Norris held a key meeting with the Shadow Food Minister.

The West of England's Dan Norris called on Daniel Zeichner MP to support vital measures to protect lobsters in the food industry.

While it would be unthinkable to order a live lamb or chicken on Amazon and wait for the delivery driver to drop it off alongside the books, clothes and electronics you have ordered - shockingly lobsters are treated exactly in this way.

Mr Norris who wrote to Amazon last year wants them to end this practice immediately ahead of the new law coming into force. "It's sickening" said the Metro Mayor, "defenceless lobsters are chucked around in boxes at the Avonmouth depot."

In some local restaurants, lobsters are also kept alive ahead of cooking.

Long standing animal welfare advocate Dan Norris said: "It's just horrible. Lobsters are posted out to customers. There is no thought for their welfare. Then amateurs smash in their skulls or boil them alive. Meanwhile in some restaurants lobsters are left with their claws bound, freezing cold on piles of ice. There are humane ways of treating lobsters such as ensuring they are stunned before slaughter and this must become the only way a lobster makes it onto a customer's plate. I believe a measure of a country is how you treat animals and we can do better than this.

Daniel Zeichner MP said: "It was a pleasure to meet Dan Norris today. I know the mayor cares passionately about animal welfare and is a relentless campaigner on this issue. I share his view that lobsters are animals and need protection. The Government has been dragging its heels on protecting living creatures for years. I will certainly be voting to back lobsters and won't rest until the ink is dry on the new law."

If passed the law will mean lobsters are treated as other animals as "sentient". This follows a Review of the Evidence of Sentience in Cephalopod Molluscs and Decapod Crustaceans published in November 2021 which agreed lobsters have feelings. That would mean proper regard would have to be taken of a lobster's needs such as how they are transported and the conditions they are kept in.