The Government Is About to Class Animal Testing as “National Infrastructure”

URGENT PLEASE ACT NOW

Protect the Wild does not campaign on animal testing. That work is being led, rightly and tirelessly, by many organisations and campaigners we respect and stand alongside.

So when we launch a petition in this space, it is not because we are suddenly changing focus. It is because something far bigger is at stake.

Late last night, Chris Packham contacted me with an urgent warning. The Government is pushing through a little-noticed change to the law that could have serious consequences not just for those protesting animal testing, but for anyone campaigning for animals, the environment, or social justice in this country.

The change comes in the form of a Statutory Instrument that would amend the Public Order Act 2023 to redefine animal testing facilities as “national infrastructure”. In practical terms, this would place private laboratories in the same legal category as airports, power stations, and major transport routes, enabling sweeping injunctions and protest restrictions to be deployed against people exercising their right to peaceful protest.

This is not a minor technical tweak. It is a fundamental shift in how protest is treated under the law.

Animal testing facilities are not “key national infrastructure”. The country would not collapse if protests took place outside them. These are not sites whose disruption would threaten public safety or national stability in the way that utilities or major roads might. Stretching the definition this far empties it of meaning, and opens the door to abuse.

More worrying still is the precedent this sets.

If the Government can quietly redefine a controversial private industry as “national infrastructure” to suppress protest, what comes next? Intensive farming sites? Shooting estates? Live export facilities? Fossil fuel infrastructure? Once this line is crossed, any industry facing sustained public opposition can argue that it too deserves special protection from scrutiny.

This is precisely why Protect the Wild is acting.

Our work has always relied on the ability of people to speak out, to gather, to protest, and to hold powerful interests to account. From exposing wildlife persecution to challenging environmentally destructive practices, peaceful protest is not a side issue for us. It is foundational.

And there is no legal vacuum here that needs filling. Existing laws already allow police to act against harassment, intimidation, criminal damage, and threats. New powers have already been introduced to deal with persistent or cumulatively disruptive protests. This Statutory Instrument is not about safety. It is about convenience. It is about insulating certain industries from public pressure.

The timing is also deeply troubling. Only weeks ago, the Government published its long-awaited Strategy to Phase Out Animal Testing, promising transparency and progress. Restricting protest and scrutiny at the same time sends exactly the opposite signal.

This measure is being rushed through via a Delegated Legislation Committee, a process that allows significant changes to the law to pass with minimal debate unless MPs actively object. If enough MPs say “No”, it can be forced into a full Commons vote. That is why this moment matters, and why speed matters.

We are standing alongside our friends and colleagues in the anti animal testing movement. But we are also acting for everyone who understands that rights, once narrowed, are rarely restored.

This petition is about defending the space to campaign. To challenge. To protest. To be heard.

If this change goes through unchallenged, it will not stop with animal testing. And by the time it reaches issues closer to home for many of us, it may be too late.

👉 Sign the petition and use our handy tool to tell your MP to oppose this dangerous expansion of protest powers.