09.12.25
Sneaky sneaky!
Simply, there are specific places that we cannot protest on or outside of, if it causes a significant delay or interferes with the running of that place. These are called ‘Key National Infrastructures’ and include things like rails, roads, gas and oil facilities, etc, essentially what keeps the country running. The Public Order Act 2023 restricts us, and to some extent, we can understand why some places should be protected.
BUT
Animal testing DOES NOT keep the country running.
A sneaky Affirmative Statutory Instrument (Westminster term for a proposed change to law) was laid by the Minister, Sarah Jones MP, on 27th November 2025 to add ‘Life sciences infrastructure’ as a Key National Infrastructure under the Public Order Act 2023. Read the proposed wording here.
This means that anything linked to the legislation that licenses animal testing (ASPA), including breeding facilities, laboratories, universities, and medical facilities, will be protected, and neither YOU nor I can conduct protesting activities that may be deemed to significantly delay or interfere with their day-to-day operations.
We are not talking about anything overly active. The proposed changes are so broad and vague that the interpretation of these activities could land YOU or ME a sentence of up to 12 months imprisonment and an unlimited fine.
Why? Because we lend our voices to animals that have none and are tested on in the name of ineffective science.
Section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 already heavily restricts the information that is given to the public about these animals and what they go through. We don’t know the half of it!
- Students protesting against their university’s use of animals in testing laboratories. Will they be locked up?
- Peaceful campaigners conducting a long-term sit-in against animal breeding facilities. Are they next for the courts?
- Organising a lobbying campaign for suppliers of facilities that use animals for research to stop supplying them with products. When does it end?
In the UK, we have a right to protest. We are a democracy, and we have voted in this government. They should not be able to change the definition within the law to suit their agenda and keep us quiet.
16 days before this, the government released its ‘transparent’ and ‘progressive’ strategy to phase out animal testing. Is animal testing no longer necessary, or is it so important that it keeps our country running? Which is it? It cannot be both.
This Affirmative Statutory Instrument will very quickly be going through its journey, through a committee vote and then for a final vote in the House of Commons and House of Lords. This turnaround is quick; we don’t have long.
YOUR MP can stop this. We need everyone to click here and ASK YOUR MP to VOTE NO.
Please use your voice for animals, as it’s about to be silenced.
Kate
