Animal Aid

Animal Aid's survey of MPs' voting records has revealed that the most animal-friendly of the three main parties at Westminster is the Liberal Democrats.

MPs earned a point for each EDM they signed, with a bonus point for the MP who actually tabled the motion. When their comparative numerical strength in the House was taken into account, Liberal Democrat MPs were 10 times more likely to support the proposed welfare measures than the Conservatives, and were also significantly more animal-friendly than Labour.

Note: Although the Liberal Democrats fared better than the other two main Westminster parties, the Green Party have consistently promoted the most animal-friendly policies of any major political party. To find out how candidates in your constituency fare on animal issues, visit the Protecting Animals in Democracy website.

Numbers of MPs and Party Standings April 2005

Political Party	No. of MPs	MPs eligible to vote for EDMs*
Labour	408	274
Conservative	160	160
Liberal Democrat	55	55
Democratic Unionists	7	7
Scottish National	5	5
Ulster Unionist	5	5
Plaid Cymru	4	4
Sinn Fein	4	4
Social Democratic & Labour Party	3	3
Independent Conservative	2	2
Independent	1	1
Respect	1	1
Speaker and Deputies	4	0
Totals	659	521

Table of parties with MPs that voted for at least one EDM

Position	Party	MPs eligible to vote for EDMs*	MPs that voted one or more EDM	% of Party that voted for one or more EDM
1st	Plaid Cymru	4	4	100.00%
1st	Respect	1	1	100.00%
1st	Scottish National	5	5	100.00%
4th	Liberal Democrat	55	46	83.64%
5th	Democratic Unionists	7	5	71.43%
6th	Labour	274	176	64.23%
7th	Ulster Unionist	5	2	40.00%
8th	Social Democratic & Labour Party	3	1	33.33%
9th	Conservative	160	19	11.87%
10th	Independent Conservative	2	0	0.00%
10th	Independent	1	0	0.00%
10th	Sinn Fein	4	0	0.00%
	Total	521	259	49.71% (Mean)

Main table covering % of party votes that were cast

Position	Party	MPs eligible to vote for EDMs*	Party MPs x 15 EDMs = poss. votes	Party MPs total EDM votes cast	% of party votes that were cast
1st	Plaid Cymru	4	60	17	28.33%
2nd	Liberal Democrat	55	825	192	23.27%
3rd	Labour	274	4110	659	16.03%
4th	Ulster Unionist	5	75	9	12.00%
5th	Democratic Unionists	7	105	11	10.48%
6th	Scottish National	5	75	7	9.33%
7th	Respect	1	15	1	6.67%
8th	Social Democratic & Labour Party	3	45	1	2.22%
9th	Conservative	160	2400	52	2.17%
10th	Independent	1	15	0	0.00%
10th	Independent Conservative	2	30	0	0.00%
10th	Sinn Fein	4	60	0	0.00%
	Total	521	7815	949	Mean 12.1%

Number of EDMs put forward by party

Political Party	No.
Liberal Democrat	8
Labour	6
Conservative	1
Democratic Unionists	0
Scottish National	0
Ulster Unionist	0
Plaid Cymru	0
Sinn Fein	0
Social Democratic & Labour Party	0
Independent Conservative	0
Independent	0
Respect	0
Total	15

* Members of the Government, Parliamentary Private Secretaries (usually), The Speaker & Deputies do not vote on EDMs.