A controversial Statutory Instrument (SI) is now heading to the House of Lords – posing a serious threat to peaceful protest, and we need your help to stop it!
Despite widespread concern from animal protection groups, MPs have voted to progress an amendment which would reclassify “Life Sciences infrastructure” as Key National Infrastructure under the Public Order Act 2023. This decision means the proposals will now be scrutinised by the House of Lords – and we need to ensure, as a movement, that we work together to campaign against these authoritative measures, and block them before they block our right to protest!
Because, if approved, the SI would significantly expand police powers to restrict protests around sites linked to animal testing, including breeding facilities, laboratories, universities and medical research centres.
This move risks silencing the very grassroots tactics that have historically driven progress for animals, as we believe peaceful protest to be one of the most powerful tools animal rights campaigners have ever had to drive forward animal freedom.
For decades, it has played a vital role in exposing cruelty, challenging secrecy and forcing change – from laboratory animal suffering and animals used for entertainment, to wildlife exploitation and intensive farming.
Time and again, it has been ordinary people standing outside government gates or on the streets of the UK – asking difficult questions, raising awareness and refusing to look away which has pushed forward societal change – and we cannot let that right disappear!
Protest is how animals have been protected when the system has failed them,” says Laura Walton, Co-Director at Freedom for Animals. “To restrict peaceful protest around animal testing is not about public safety – it is about shielding powerful industries from scrutiny. If we are prevented from protesting for any animal, we are prevented from protecting all of them.
While this issue is not directly related to our focussed work to protect animals used in entertainment, it is a creeping erosion of fundamental rights that we must stand against. Where does it end if peaceful protest against cruelty is criminalised? Now more than ever, it is important that animal protection organisations and supporters stand in solidarity with all campaigners whose voices could be silenced by this legislation.
Campaigners are particularly concerned about the broad and vague wording of the amendment. Any protest deemed to cause “significant delay” or “interference” could carry severe penalties, including up to 12 months’ imprisonment and unlimited fines – even if the action is peaceful and non-violent.
The restrictions would apply regardless of the protest’s cause. This means animal rights campaigners, students, workers and community groups could all face criminalisation simply for exercising their democratic right to dissent near designated sites.
Public transparency around animal experimentation is already severely limited. Further curbing the right to protest risks pushing animal testing even further out of public view at a time when ethical concerns are growing and alternatives are increasingly available.
The timing is also deeply concerning. The Government’s recent Strategy to Phase Out Animal Testing raised hopes of a more open, accountable transition away from animal use in science. Redefining animal testing facilities as protected infrastructure risks undermining that promise by prioritising control and secrecy over transparency and progress.
As the SI moves to the House of Lords, we are calling on you, our supporters, to help reject it, by signing the Naturewatch UK petition!
Take action now by signing here!
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