Vanessa Hudson

Animal Welfare Party (AWP) is a minor political party in the United Kingdom campaigning on an animal welfare, environment and health platform.

The party was founded in December 2006 by Jasmijn de Boo, a Dutch national, of Kennington, London, and Shaun Rutherford of Milford Haven, Wales, as Animals Count! The party was registered with the Electoral Commission on 22 January 2007.

In October 2010, Vanessa Hudson was elected as party leader. In 2013, the party changed its name from Animals Count! to the Animal Welfare Party.

In June 2013, Hudson joined leaders from other animal protection parties from across Europe in a meeting in The Hague organised by the Animal Politics Foundation of the Netherlands. At this meeting the animal protection parties of the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Turkey and the UK discussed ways in which they could work together more effectively. Later that month, Hudson announced that the Animal Welfare Party would stand in the London region in the 2014 European Parliament elections. It was one of seven European animal protection parties contesting the 2014 European elections with the aim of returning dedicated representatives for animals to the EU Parliament. This European group of parties became known informally as the EuroAnimal7 and includes PvdD of The Netherlands, PACMA of Spain, PAN of Portugal, Partei Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz of Germany, Djurens Parti of Sweden and Animal Party Cyprus.

In September 2017, the party gained its first elected representative after Alsager Town Councillor Jane Smith defected from the Green Party to the AWP. Smith was re-elected in May 2019.

AWP's policies for Europe include:

• Re-directing EU subsidies (currently averaging 50 billion euros per year) away from livestock and fisheries farming and into plant-based agriculture
• Promoting plant-based lifestyle initiatives through public health and education campaigns
• Opposing the production and import of genetically manipulated crops anywhere in Europe
• Labelling all products clearly with information which allows consumers to make informed choices in line with their own principles on the environment, health, animal welfare and the social circumstances in which a product is produced
• Phasing out farming practices and systems with poor welfare consequences for animals
• Ending live animal export
• Reducing journey times for animals travelling to slaughter and further "fattening"
• Phasing out animal experimentation with binding targets for reduction combined with funding and real support for alternatives
• Ending cultural traditions that involve cruelty to animals, such as bullfighting and foie gras production
• A ban on the production and sale of fur within Europe
• Ending EU subsidy of rearing bulls for bullfighting (currently estimated to be 129.6 million euros per year)
• Halting EU funding of Romania's "Rabies Eradication Programme" until the stray animal "Catch and Kill" policy is replaced by "Spay and Neuter"
• Ensuring proper enforcement of existing animal welfare legislation across all EU member states

The party has not had any representatives elected. It initially intended to stand in the Welsh Assembly election in 2007. In the 2008 London Assembly election, de Boo stood in Lambeth and Southwark, receiving 1,828 votes (1.12%). The party sponsored an electoral list of three candidates for the 2009 European Parliament election in the East of England, receiving 13,201 votes (0.8%).

In the 2010 United Kingdom general election, the party contested one seat, which it did not win. The party sponsored an electoral list of eight candidates for the 2014 European Parliament election in the London region, receiving 21,092 votes (0.96%). Four AWP candidates contested the 2015 general election. They stood in the 2016 London Assembly election, receiving 1% of the vote. They stood four candidates in the 2017 general election and six in the 2019 general election: none were elected.

The party has never had a candidate elected.

Parliamentary elections

General election, 6 May 2010

General election, 7 May 2015

Scottish Parliament election, 5 May 2016

General election, 8 June 2017

General election, 12 December 2019

European Parliament elections

2009 European elections

2014 European elections

2019 European elections