Lobby your MP!

What you need to do to help animals

This is your opportunity to be at the forefront of an exciting new era for animals! Please, empower yourself - and animals - by getting involved! Remember, millions of defenceless animals are desperate for your protection.

It's really important that you contact your constituency MP to ask them to support the animal protection Early Day Motions (EDMs) described below. EDMs act as sort of petition for MPs. They serve to highlight the level of political support for the aims of the Motion, and create pressure on Government to act.

The more letters and other communications that MPs receive, the more likely they are to be persuaded to attach importance to animal protection issues, because:

• they will be exposed to rational and informed argument about the need to act in defence of animals

• they will realize that votes will be at stake come the next election!

The responses you elicit also play a vital role in helping us to inform the public about whether your current MP is compassionate and principled, or just trying to climb the political ladder without scruple or regard for their constituents' concerns. Finally, it will provide information about whether MPs have kept their pre-election promises, as indicated in their response to the PAD 2005 policy questionnaire, which is displayed at the bottom of each constituency page. Five Early Day Motions (EDM) are tabled at the House of Commons for the 2007-8 session, which call for Government action on key animal protection issues initially raised by PAD at the last General Election in 2005.

• EDM 4 ('Use of Animals to Test Food Additives') calls on the Government to stop granting licences for animal tests for food additives and foodstuffs.

• EDM 74 ('Ombudsman and Suffering in Animal Experiments') calls on the Government to establish an independent inquiry into the notorious Imutran xenotransplantation scandal.

• EDM 480 'Animal Protection Policy' calls on the Government to establish an Animal Protection Commission in order to replace the existing Government bodies that have become subservient to pro-animal cruelty lobby groups, and finally give a powerful voice to the millions of animals who are at the mercy of government decisions.

• EDM 1215 'Household Products' asks the Government to extend its existing policy ban on cosmetics testing using animals to also include household products.

• EDM 1279 'Animal Testing of Cosmetics' applauds Uncaged's Boycott Procter & Gamble campaign and calls on the Government to support the thorough implementation of the European bans on animal testing for cosmetics.

Search for your MP and constituency entering your postcode. Once these have been found, you can click to lobby your MP on each issue, and then enter your name and address. This enables the automatic generation of letters to your MP addressed from you. You then have the option to:

• email the MP (if they have an email address) to ask them to support each animal protection proposal

and/or

• print off letters to send to your MP

You will also be able to edit the letter in order to personalise it - once again this helps to increase its impact.

Please copy and send us any replies you receive, and let us know if your MP's email address is invalid. Our address is PAD, 5th Floor, Alliance House, 9 Leopold Street, Sheffield, S1 2GY, email pad@vote4animals.org.uk.

To increase your impact further, why not arrange to visit your MP at a constituency surgery? MPs really respond to personal visits - the better the quality of your interaction with the MP, the better your chance of eliciting their sympathy and interest. The powerful organisations who abuse and kill animals invest millions of pounds in directly lobbying MPs through personal contact. But you can achieve this for the good of animals, and in a way that is much more democratic!

Click here to lobby your MP now!