CASH subsidies for Spanish farmers breeding bulls for fighting should be ended, claims an East Lancashire Euro MP.

Liberal democrat Chris Davies wants European subsidies up to £150 per animal to be stopped.

The grants are available to support beef and veal production but the European Commission says there is no way of judging whether the animals end up in the abattoir or bullring.

But the European Parliament's consumer affairs committee has called for the rules to be changed.

Mr Davies said: "In Spain, as many as 40,000 bulls die each year in the name of sport. I don't think tax payers in East Lancashire should have to contribute towards an activity regarded by many as cruel in the extreme.

"Supporters of bullfighting claim that it is equal competition between bull and man but the animal has little chance of surviving the ordeal."

Despite laws on animal welfare, bullfighting is permitted to continue in Spain and parts of France because the EU has no legal right to interfere in what are claimed to be "traditional cultural practices" of member states.