Chicks are let out of a shelter at a duck farm producing foie gras near Beijing

Michael Gove is considering a ban on foie gras as he tries to avoid being outflanked by Labour in the drive to improve animal welfare.

Imports of the delicacy, which is made from the livers of force-fed geese and ducks, could be barred as a way of illustrating the benefits of Brexit. EU single market rules mean that a ban on foie gras by Britain is not legally possible to impose, nor are restrictions on the export of live animals for slaughter. Mr Gove will challenge Labour, which last week mooted a ban, to say whether it, too, was prepared to support diverging from European law.

Labour proposed to improve animal welfare as part of a consultation announced on Wednesday. The ideas include rights for