Westminster

Political animal

Check out our website for the General Election 

We have launched a new version of our Political animal website for the General Election campaign.

The site focuses on four key issues which we think will be important for politicians to address over the next year:
 

• status dogs
   
• higher welfare farming and labelling
   
• wild animals in circuses
   
• animals in experiments.

The site gives people the opportunity to discuss these issues on specially created message boards and allows you to vote on the issues you feel most strongly about.

It also contains a timeline of the last 20 years of animal welfare law, leading up to the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and beyond, showing landmark changes.

Join in the debate over at: www.politicalanimal.org.uk 

You can also read the RSPCA's briefing on the Hunting Act by following the link below.
RSPCA Hunting Act 2004 briefing (PDF 135KB) Get involved in the debate by visiting our forum.
 

Lobbying tradition

Animal welfare was first debated in the UK parliament as far back as the 19th century. Richard Martin introduced the first Act passed on animal cruelty. The bill, ‘to prevent the ill-treatment of horses and other animals’ received Royal Assent in 1822. Along with other leading members of parliament Richard Martin went on to be one of the founding members of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). The Society has been lobbying politicians since its creation in 1824.
 

Today

Our parliamentary team provides an information service to politicians and civil servants on a variety of animal welfare issues. As well as regularly meeting and briefing politicians, the team attends and holds events both at the Houses of Parliament and the annual party conferences.

We make sure that the RSPCA has an opportunity to input its concerns on animal welfare to all relevant government departments, and have close working relationships with Defra (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) and the Home Office. We often respond to government consultations and parliamentary select committee enquiries.

Legislative change 

When the government decides it wants to make or change a law about an issue which affects animal welfare, we will follow the piece of legislation through its stages in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. During the process we will talk to ministers, MPs and Peers to make sure the law will work for animals. You can find out more information about how a bill becomes law by looking at our helpful flowchart which can be downloaded here: How a bill becomes law (PDF 25.7kb)

Current issues we have been working on in parliament include reviewing the legislation relating to dangerous dogs and improving the conditions that chickens, pigs and lab animals are kept in. If you are a politician or work in the Houses of Parliament please contact us for political briefings on these issues. 

APGAW

We also provide the administrative support for the Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW), a group for politicians and interest groups seeking to improve animal welfare standards in Westminster. The group has just finished its inquiry into pedigree dogs which can be downloaded from their website: www.apgaw.org