Labour civil war erupts as 26 MPs rebel in major vote on protests | Politics | News

Twenty-six Labor MPs have rebelled against the Government’s decision to ban protests outside animal testing laboratories and other “life sciences infrastructure”. Former minister Kerry McCarthy and Ruth Jones, chair of the Commons Welsh Affairs Committee, were among the rebels opposing the move, which campaigners described as “undemocratic”.

Disruptive protests that interfere with “essential national infrastructure” such as roads, railways, airports, ports and some power stations are already banned under the Public Order Act 2023. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs wanted to add “life sciences infrastructure” to this list through a regulation. The government succeeded in passing the rule-making amendment by 301 votes to 110, after the Conservative Party, which had previously tried to introduce the same measure before the election, abstained.

This means anyone who violates the new ban could now face jail time and fines. Labor has outlawed protests such as “Camp Beagle” in Cambridgeshire, where activists have held a continuous vigil for nearly five years outside a center that breeds beagles for laboratory testing.

One rebel MP pointed out: “We voted against it as Labor when the Conservatives tried to do this in government; now our leadership is doing the same thing the Conservatives did.”

It is thought the powers would allow police to “respond proportionately to disruptive protest activity that harms the health of our nation”, according to a Home Office spokesman.

Campaigner Nathan McGovern, spokesman for the group Animal Rising, described the Government’s plans as “fundamentally undemocratic, secretive and an insult to the British public”.

He said using a regulation to change the law “reveals the feeling in this Government that this is not a popular law”.

The full list of Labor MPs who rebelled is as follows: