MPs approve expansion of anti-protest powers covering animal testing sites

Protect the Wild has condemned the House of Commons for approving a controversial amendment to the Public Order Act. It reclassifies life sciences infrastructure, including animal testing facilities, as “key national infrastructure”. Find out how your MP voted here.

The change places private laboratories in the same legal category as airports, power stations, and major transport routes. As a result, peaceful protest near any site with animal testing facilities could carry restrictions and potential prison sentences of up to a year.

MPs declare animal testing untouchable

Campaigners warn the amendment expands public order powers and risks criminalising lawful protest far beyond its stated intent. Universities, hospitals, and research campuses all hold testing licences. So the change could affect large areas of public space entirely unrelated to laboratory work.

Protect the Wild founder Rob Pownall said:

Today is a dark day for democracy. This amendment stretches the definition of ‘key national infrastructure’ beyond recognition and does so for one reason only: to shield a controversial industry from scrutiny.

Public opposition to animal testing remains substantial, and peaceful protest has a long and legitimate history in driving ethical and scientific progress. This vote effectively removes people’s right to express moral, scientific, or ethical objections without fear of criminalisation.

Pownall added that the decision fundamentally undermines the government’s credibility, coming just weeks after ministers published a Strategy to Phase Out Animal Testing:

You cannot promise transparency and progress on animal testing while simultaneously restricting protest and scrutiny. That contradiction will not go unnoticed.

Featured image via the Canary