WSPA election campaign
Jun 1, 2010
David Cameron is our new Prime Minister and the UK now has its first coalition government in 70 years. So what does that mean for animal welfare in this country?
Coalition views on animal welfare
You can access the election manifestos for all the major parties on our site, which will give you a good idea of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat priorities and how they may work together and which issues they may clash on.
The new Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Secretary of State was announced in May being Caroline Spelman MP and a full list of the Defra Ministers can be found on their website >>
Caroline is the Tory MP for Meriden and was quoted in her 2006 Westminster Report saying "It is crucial that farmers are able to engage the consumer in supporting the high standards... of food safety, animal welfare and environmental care that lies at the heart of British farming".
Raising your voice
Suzi Morris, WSPA UK Director said: “Thank you to everyone to used our poster and quizzed their local candidates on their commitment to animals and the election issues that matter to WSPA UK.”
WSPA received 340 responses from the potential parliamentary candidates, of which 50 went on to win their respective seats and become MPs.
Suzi added:”WSPA had a great response from the candidates to our Vote for the Voiceless campaign, which I should imagine is in no small part, thanks to our supporters, who care deeply about animal welfare issues in this country.”
Next steps
Over the coming months, WSPA UK will work to hold all the elected MPs to the promises they made regarding animal welfare in their election manifesto and online on our Vote for the Voiceless microsite, or by email to the WSPA UK lobbying team.
You can get involved too.
Our first action will be to contact the newly elected MPs WSPA newly elected MPs who signed our whaling election pledge to do everything they can to make sure the upcoming International Whaling Commission EU vote reflects the anti-whaling views of the vast majority of EU citizens.
You can write to them as well – read more on how you can help >>