Animal Protection and the European Parliament Elections, June 4

PAD Director Dr Dan Lyons applies his award-winning political science expertise to preview the European Elections...

The recent votes on a new EU law on animal experiments have provided the ultimate test of MEPs' and the parties' commitment to animal protection. All voters in Great Britain will have the chance to cast a vote for a party in elections to the European Parliament on Thursday June 4. Please use this wisely to give animals a better chance in the next five years, and show MEPs that there is a political cost to condemning animals to pain, suffering and distress.

On 5 May 2009, a series of votes took place on the proposed animal experiments law. Although there were actually 202 different votes, on only 15 votes were the decisions of each MEP recorded. And we only have that information because Green MEPs requested a record of the vote.

I have analysed the voting patterns of UK MEPs and ranked the parties between -15 (worst) up to +15 (best) based on how they voted. Given that the starting point for the vote - the draft law published by the European Commission in November - was pretty weak, minus scores should be seen as extreme in their callous disregard for animal welfare and the need to 'make animal testing history'.

Overall, the Greens offer by far the best record and policies for animals. However, certain members of Labour, Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru have done some very important work to retain the better measures in the new law, and they deserve some credit - and votes - for that. Meanwhile, the Conservatives have tried to reduce the level of regulation across Europe to way below current UK standards.

Conservatives
Animal Protection Score: -13.07

The Conservative Party put in an absolutely appalling performance, achieving a desperate score of -13.07, by far the worst of any party. Not only did most Conservative MEPs consistently vote for increased cruelty to animals, but they have played a central role in weakening the original draft of this European law. Conservative MEP for the South West of England, Neil Parish, personally drafted amendments to condemn animals to severe and prolonged suffering and weaken the assessment. Parish is not standing for re-election as an MEP because he is so confident of winning the Honiton and Tiverton seat for the Conservatives at the next General Election.

The original draft produced by the European Commission was, overall, a slightly weaker version of the UK law on animal research (setting aside the fact that the UK law isn't actually enforced...) What's most disgusting about the Conservatives' conduct is that they then proceeded to weaken the law further, to way below UK standards. And then they kept lying to members of the public, pretending that they were improving animal welfare - wolves in sheeps' clothing.

An honourable exception is Jonathan Evans, an MEP for Wales, who actually achieved a score of +15 by voting for animals on every occasion. Unfortunately, Jonathan is not standing for re-election for the European Parliament in order to contest the Cardiff North seat in the General Election, so from an animal welfare perspective, it's hard to see any reason to vote Conservative in these European elections.

The Conservative website reveals that the party does not see animal welfare as a big issue, and there are no pro-animal proposals in their Euro manifesto. Unfortunately, despite Cameron's efforts to rebrand the Tories, they still seem to be very much the 'nasty' party.

Labour
Animal Protection Score: +7.95

In voting terms, Labour performed a little better than the Lib Dems, scoring 7.95. Particular credit goes to Robert Evans in London and Michael Cashman in the West Midlands who both scored a perfect +15. Thanks also to Richard Corbett in Yorkshire and David Martin in Scotland who both scored 14. But too many Labour MEPs abstained rather than vote against the whole draft law, and they failed to persuade many of their European colleagues in the Party of European Socialists to vote with them.

The big problem with Labour is that although some individual MEPs and, indeed, MPs are relatively sympathetic to animals, the record of the UK Labour Government is terrible and, in practice, little different to the Conservatives. The Labour Government will have a huge role to play as all the national governments discuss this draft law. So far, the noises from the Government indicate they are singing from the same hymn sheet as the animal testing industry. Indeed, ministers just seem to let the civil servants and industry stitch up a pro-vivisection policy without having the interest or motivation to get a grip on this issue.

I would love to be proved wrong and see some of the more ethical attitudes of MEPs influence the Westminster Government, but until that happens it's hard to provide a ringing endorsement of a Labour vote in the Euro elections on June 4th. I can't find any reference to animal welfare in Labour's campaign for the Euros, and it isn't listed as a key policy area.

Lib Dems
Animal Protection Score: +3.55

A mixed bag here, achieving a pretty inadequate score of just +3.55. The main reason why their score is this low is because of Andrew Duff, MEP for the Eastern region of England, who scored a pretty evil -15 due to his cosy relationship with the animal testing industry. In contrast, Liz Lynne in the West Midlands scored a relatively decent +11, and Chris Davies (North West England, +7) and Fiona Hall (North East England, +8) also did pretty well.

One problem with the Lib Dems is that, despite many decent individuals, as a whole they are a little inconsistent and unreliable on animal welfare issues. However, on the plus side, Lib Dem MEPs did a lot of valuable work behind the scenes persuading their colleagues in other countries to improve their voting position and putting pressure on the arch-villain of the piece, Neil Parish.

Unfortunately, the Liberal Democrat Euro manifesto doesn't mention animals at all.

Greens
Animal Protection Score: +15

The UK Greens are the only party which has a policy called 'animal rights'. Both Green MEPs, Caroline Lucas in South East England and Jean Lambert in London, are staunch and consistent defenders of animals with a 100% positive record on this vote, both scoring +15. Dr Lucas has been especially active for animals and helps to table pro-animal laws. The Green group is now an influential force in the European Parliament, and UK Greens can rally their colleagues to help make a major difference for animals. The Euro manifesto includes a specific animal protection section and promises to work for a ban on animal experiments.

The Greens have an excellent-to-good chance of winning seats in South East England, London, North West England and Eastern England, so Green votes cast there would be particularly valuable.