I’ve been working from home today, getting prepared for the week ahead. It’s a constituency week, which means I’ll be holding meetings and doing campaign work in the UK. Animal welfare is often at the forefront of my work as an MEP, and I was shocked by the latest RSPCA figures reported this morning, showing that more pets than ever are being abandoned in the UK. As Vice President of the RSPCA, I am amazed that pet owners still think it is acceptable to dump unwanted animals. If it wasn’t for the RSPCA and other animal rescue services, which do great work without government funding, such animals wouldn’t stand of chance of surviving. See my press release for more information.
Moving from animal rights to human rights, I wrote to the Commission this afternoon to ask what is being done in terms of EU aid for the displaced people of the Chagos Islands. In the 1960s, around 2000 people lived on these UK-owned islands in the Indian Ocean, most of them on Diego Garcia. They were forced out of their homes in a secretive operation to allow the US military to build an airbase, an act of staggering injustice in which the UK government was highly complicit. I hope to hear back from the Commission about what more can be done for these people, none of whom have received recognition or adequate compensation.
