Cheltenham MP Shortlisted for Wildlife Champion Award

Cheltenham’s MP Martin Horwood has been shortlisted for a national award for his work on raising awareness of animal welfare issues. Martin has made the shortlist for the Animal Welfare Champion category in the DODS Charity Champion Awards on 8 December.

Martin was nominated by the locally based national charity, Naturewatch, who campaign against animal cruelty and who teamed up with Martin to table Early Day Motion 545 which called for non-animal alternatives to be used in research and testing. This EDM is one of the most successful ever to be tabled in Parliament and has attracted the support of 267 MPs to date.

Recently Martin has worked closely with the Shark Trust after local school pupil Jake Batty alerted him to the immoral issue of shark finning, and how it was still allowed to take place in UK waters. Martin tabled an EDM on this issue and the government has since conceded that the law was wrong and has changed the law as a result of this pressure. Martin has also led the way on other animal welfare issues, tabling EDMs on microchipping of dogs and seal imports from commercial hunts and co-sponsoring motions on other issues such as whaling.

Martin said ‘This came as a complete surprise. I didn't set out to win any awards, I just took up issues that I cared about or that constituents like Jake brought to my attention. I think the voluntary organisations like Naturewatch, RSPCA and the Shark Trust deserve their share of the credit too - we depend on their expertise and research to bring these issues to public attention.'

Dawn Lewis, Campaign Manager from Naturewatch, who nominated Martin, said ‘Martin is truly deserving of the title Animal Welfare Champion. His hard work over a period of many years has ensured animal welfare considerations have remained high on the political agenda. We are enormously grateful for the tremendous support he has provided over the years to our campaigns, and hope that Martin’s invaluable contribution to animal welfare is recognised’.