The British animal protection movement poured significant funds into the Labour campaign, and will be watching to see what influence they have had. On this program, my colleague Gary Francione has highlighted the important differences between animal welfare initiatives, that aim to ameliorate, but not radically change, the treatment of animals, and animal rights initiatives, that move towards abolition of certain types of animal use and abuse. So let's look at some of Labour's promises. Some are shifts in focus that may or may not have a significant impact. And there are some abolitionist initiatives.
Labour seeks to ban cosmetic testing on animals.
That animal suffers just as much, and is just as dead. But this is certainly a different approach for a government. Government has not tackled animal issues in this way. And then there is the hunting issue. British animal rights proponents have waged a long, bitter battle to stop blood sports, focusing on fox hunting with hounds.