05.02.26
I sat in the gallery of the House of Lords yesterday for the debate on the Public Order Act 2023 statutory instrument designed to criminalise people who protest, interfere with or cause delays to facilities linked to animal testing. What I witnessed has left me numb, albeit temporarily before anger takes over.
To remind everyone, the Public Order Act amendments were proposed back in November 2025, incredibly quietly by the relevant Minister, Sarah Jones MP. This wasn’t transparently shared with the public and was only noticed as a consequence of a letter between the Minister and the Home Office. We’ve been fighting it since then.
The purpose was to add ‘Life Sciences Infrastructure’, i.e. animal testing, to the list of Key National Infrastructure that is protected under the act. The list of those were originally things like rail, road, electricity, gas etc…what most people would perhaps agree were key to the day to day running of the UK. It meant that facilities, such as testing laboratories, animal breeding centres, many universities etc would be shielded from protest or any interference, regardless of the protest topic.
Statutory instruments are used by Parliament to make ‘minor changes’ to laws and are not scrutinised by MPs to ‘save parliamentary time’ and are therefore delegated via committees to push the law changes through. However, what we have just witnessed in this instance, sets a precedent for the UK Government to pick and choose whatever they believe to be ‘minor changes’, regardless of who, what or how it affects the public.
Let me make it very clear. Animal testing is not key national infrastructure.
16 days prior to the Minister tabling this proposal, the Government released its ‘Strategy to phase out animal testing’. How can it be largely unnecessary that it can be phased out, yet so essential it keeps the country running?
The English language does not allow something to be essential, yet unnecessary at the same time. It’s wrong. However, our UK Government begs to differ.
Yesterday, 62 members of the House of Lords shared our disgust at the Government’s apparent war on protests, raised legitimate concerns that this overstepped the mark, was a backhanded support for a private industry that makes billions from the suffering of animals and recognised that this was not the way to make changes to law.
To those people, thank you. You join the 110 MPs who voted against this before Christmas in the House of Commons, who stood up for what is right- democracy, transparency and a recognition that protest as an activity has supported societal progression for hundreds of years.
Protesting goes way back to the 13th century and potentially earlier. It is how improvements to society, people’s lives and animal welfare have been made. Why? Because people stand up for what they believe in and have every right to do so.
Peaceful protest should never be criminalised. What I witnessed yesterday is an escalation to silence us to maintain the animal testing industry and to keep the profits flowing into the UK economy, despite the barbaric suffering caused to over 2.5 million animals every single year, right here, at home. The life sciences sector brings in £150 BILLION every year into the UK economy, yet the Government has ‘allocated’ £75 MILLION over the next 3 years to the phasing out of animal testing. I’ll let you do the maths to balance that one.
Profit over humanity.
So, what next?
We have worked tirelessly on this for months with our friends at Animal Aid. We recently visited the incredible people at Camp Beagle who have given their lives for over 4.5 years to protest outside a facility that, from the 11th February, will be protected by law from any interference. We provided briefings to MPs and members of the House of Lords and a platform for supporters to email decision-makers. You did this in your thousands, thank you.
Whilst it is a terrible result for animals and a dark turn against democracy, we will continue to fight this. Legal angles to fight the Government’s changes to the Public Order Act 2023 are being considered alongside the wonderful team at Animal Aid, and we will be alongside them every step of the way.
To end, from me directly: I, alongside our wonderful team at Naturewatch, have given my heart and soul to this. The puppy cries from inside the beagle breeding facility, as we stood outside giving treats to the dogs who were just born into a better life, will haunt me. My faith in our political system has been shattered, and I’m really sorry that we couldn’t stop this for people and animals; we all deserve better. However, I promise you, we will regroup, consider our next steps, and continue to fight to end the suffering of animals used in scientific research in the UK.
Dogs, cats, horses, mice, fish, monkeys, the species is irrelevant; animals should not be born just to die.
Thank you, and I’m sorry.
Kate S.
Campaigns Team
