Vince Cable’s nine-year-old grandson has screened an animal welfare film he made to an audience of journalists and MPs.

Ayrton Cable, a pupil at Hampton Court House independent school, showed the premiere in Portcullis House, in Westminster, on Wednesday, September 6.

His film proposes new laws on food labelling to give consumers more choice about animal welfare.

He said: “I think all meat and dairy products, like chicken, cheese and bacon should be clearly and honestly labelled to show the farm system used to rear the animal.

“With method of production labelling people can choose either to buy meat and cheese from animals which are kept in a kinder system, even though this may cost a bit more. Or they could choose intensively farmed food, which may be cheaper, but which has been made using animals who suffered.

“I find that when people understand what really goes on in farms, they want clear, honest information about where the food they buy comes from.

“We should take a stand on food labelling with a new law, and have all meat and dairy products labelled by method of production.”

Representatives from charities including Compassion in World Farming and the RSPCA joined the schoolboy to launch their Labelling Matters campaign.

Dr Cable, MP for Twickenham, said: “I am delighted that my grandson is playing a role fronting this campaign for Compassion in World Farming and its partner organisations.

“A lot has been done to improve farm animal welfare standards in the UK, but some very bad practice remains and it is the greater awareness of the people which will drive the needed improvement in standards.”