✓ Passed into LawLords
UK Parliament · Bill
Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022
Summary
This Act recognises that animals can feel pain, fear, and other emotions. It requires UK government departments to consider how their decisions affect animal welfare and what animals can feel, rather than treating animals as objects without feelings.
A vote to support means
- —Supporting this Act means believing that animal welfare decisions should consider that animals can feel pain and suffer. It requires the government to think about animal sentience (the ability to feel emotions and pain) when making new laws and policies, which supporters say will lead to better protections for animals.
A vote to oppose means
- —Critics worry the Act could slow down new laws and policies because government departments have to consider animal sentience in every decision. Some also question whether it will actually change anything in practice, or if it creates unclear rules about which animals count as sentient.
Cast Your Vote
People's Vote1 votes
100% Support · 10% Oppose · 0
Parliament's Vote465 MPs
38% Ayes · 17962% Noes · 286
Democratic Gap
62% — Large gap
Outcome mismatch — the public would pass this bill, but Parliament rejected it
Bill Passage
Commons
- 1st reading14 Dec 2021
- 2nd reading18 Jan 2022
- Committee stage10 Feb 2022
- Report stage14 Mar 2022
- 3rd reading14 Mar 2022
Lords
- 1st reading13 May 2021
- 2nd reading16 Jun 2021
- Committee stage6 Jul 2021
- Report stage6 Dec 2021
- 3rd reading13 Dec 2021
Royal Assent28 Apr 2022
Full Bill Description(click to expand)
No description available