News
Get the latest news and updates from Animal Equality

British politicians step inside virtual factory farms

Throughout September we attended the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green party conferences.
17/10/2016 Updated: 14/11/2018

                  Most politicians, like most people, have never been inside a typical British farm – yet many vocally endorse British farming and urge consumers to ‘Buy British’ for ‘high animal welfare’. Animal Equality has filmed inside typical UK pig and chicken farms throughout 2016 and documented the cruel conditions that more than 90% of animals reared for meat endure. We dared politicians attending the autumn party conferences to step inside these farms, via 360° footage and virtual reality headsets, and experience firsthand how most farmed animals live in Britain. We received support for our work to end factory farming from politicians at all levels of government and many pledged to help prioritise this issue in their party’s manifesto.

                                      We were even voted Best NGO Stand by the Liberal Democrats and featured on the BBC’s Daily Politics!

                                    Our investigations have revealed that ‘buying British’ does not mean ‘high welfare’; most animals farmed in Britain spend their lives inside crowded, filthy sheds and suffer painful mutilations and genetic abnormalities. Millions of animals die in these harsh conditions and are simply thrown in the rubbish. Through our iAnimal virtual reality project we are educating people everywhere, at all levels of society, about this cruelty and empowering personal and political change! In a tweet following her iAnimal experience, Baroness Jenny Jones summed up the feelings of everyone who watched the film: ‘The #VirtualReality tour is SO grim. Shame on us humans for allowing that torture of animals.’  She has also offered to help us raise this issue in the House of Lords.

You can help by watching and sharing our new 360° film of British pig and chicken farms!  Help show others the reality of animal farming and encourage them to try veg!            


Latest News
14/05/2025

Animal Equality UK and The Humane League UK have published expert findings in a joint report which warns that a lack of UK species-specific legislation to protect Rainbow Trout at slaughter could be leaving tens of millions of animals to experience painful deaths every year.
29/04/2025

Last month, Animal Equality UK’s Executive Director, Abigail Penny, travelled to Cleethorpes - the site where the UK’s first fully on-land, salmon mega-farm is proposed to be built. If allowed to go ahead, the fish factory would confine and kill around one million fish every year. Experts have warned it could be catastrophic for the local environment. Our mission is clear: to strengthen resistance by bringing together local residents, influential politicians, and fellow advocacy groups at this critical stage of the campaign.
25/04/2025

Undercover footage reveals goats dragged by their legs, thrown onto trucks, and nearly decapitated while conscious.