WHY I BECAME A VEGAN

THERE are meat-eaters who abhor animal cruelty and vegans who are driven by matters other than animal welfare. But, in my case, the two have always been intrinsically linked.

I vividly remember being horrified as a 14-year-old given a summer job by my local butcher.
Having been led to believe I would be serving behind the counter, I was surprised on my first day to find myself exposed to the slaughterhouse next door.

Rather than serving up some prime steak for Mrs Smith or chicken fillets for Mr Brown, my unglamorous job was to feed sheep intestines through my fingers to be used for sausage skin.

But if that was unpleasant enough, nothing could have prepared me for some of the other horrors that I experienced on that first day.

I saw the fear in the eyes of the animals who were about to be killed. I can still picture that now, just as I can still smell the rank scent of death which filled the air in that awful place.

It was an experience that stayed with me for life and something that influenced my eventual decision that I could no longer partake in this industry.

I made that choice in 1976, some five years after that dreadful experience in the butcher's slaughterhouse.
Thinking back, I was inspired by people like Mahatma Gandhi, who said: "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

I can even remember hearing Spike Milligan discussing his vegetarianism as he was being interviewed on the Michael Parkinson Show. That unquestionably influenced me, too, and may well have been the deciding factor. But, for me, becoming a vegan was less about emulating my heroes or making a statement.

It was much more about taking what seemed to be the next natural step, as a 19-year-old who was beginning to come to terms with some of the social injustices that would epitomise much of the next couple of decades.

It was an era that shaped the person and politician I became. My ideologies and beliefs were shaped in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and becoming a vegan was part of that.

Cruelty seemed inherent within the meat industry. So why would I want to partake in such a thing when I felt so passionately about it?

I joined the Hunt Saboteurs Association at around the same time and was elected on to the League Against Cruel Sports' board of trustees in 1979. It's a position I still hold with pride. And I'm as passionate now about fighting against cruelty to animals as I was back then. That made it easy for me to take my natural position on debates such as fox-hunting before that was finally resolved by the last Labour Government. It also sheds some light on why I have been such a vocal opponent of the appalling badger cull which remains in place, even if our campaign against it has forced the Tory-led Government to slow its progress. All that is because it is easy to campaign on an issue when it rankles with the belief systems you hold at your very core.

I abhor cruelty in any form and the way in which animals are reared has become more intensive, which has inevitably compromised welfare. But there are so many other reasons to believe that eating animals is fundamentally wrong, especially at a time when the earth's natural resources are under intense pressure and energy efficiency is more topical than ever.

Farmed animals consume 13 pounds of grain for every pound of meat produced. It is an incredibly wasteful use of land. It would be far more efficient to eat the crops directly rather than feeding them to animals first. Food crops can produce up to 15 times more protein per acre than each acre of land set aside for meat production.

Even more perversely, farmed fish need to be fed five pounds of wild-caught fish for every pound of flesh produced for human consumption.

It is grossly inefficient and makes no sense whatsoever.

In terms of energy consumption, 11 times more fossil fuel is exhausted to make a calorie of animal protein than it takes to make a calorie of food protein. And the livestock industry is responsible for nearly 20 per cent of the world's climate changing emissions.

Add in other alarming statistics, such as the fact that 50% of antibiotics are used to tackle health problems of animals being reared in intensive conditions, and it casts a dark shadow over the whole meat industry.

So, while my original decision was about cruelty to animals, there are dozens of other factors that reinforce my view that veganism is not just about morals, but about making a sustainable life choice.

Population growth and environmental considerations mean that meat consumption at present levels is untenable. Consequently, the likelihood is that, for future generations, a vegan diet will be the norm rather than the exception that it is today.

QUEEN’S SPEECH WAS A MISSED OPPORTUNITY

WEDNESDAY’S Queen’s Speech was yet another missed opportunity, by this out-of-touch zombie government, to announce measures that would address the real issues affecting people up and down the country.

One or two laudable bills like action on modern slavery were included, but it’s clear that this government has run out of ideas and is marking time up to the next election. It is more than half a century since so few bills were contained in a Queen's Speech.

By contrast, in response to the government’s pathetic programme for the year ahead, Labour leader, Ed Miliband set out what would be in a Labour Queen’s Speech.

We would have a bill to make work pay for all workers. That would include an increase in the National Minimum Wage and then linking it to a higher proportion of average earnings. It would outlaw exploitative zero-hour contracts and guarantee a regular contract to people working regular hours month after month. It would encourage businesses to pay the living wage and it would support working parents by offering 25 hours free childcare for three and found year olds.

We would have a Banking bill to establish a British Investment Bank as well as regional banks to support small businesses. And we would create at least two new sizeable and competitive banks to challenge the current domination of retail banking by the existing high street banks.

We would have a community bill to devolve power to local communities, enabling local councils to stop the spread of pay day lenders on their high streets. Local authorities like Derby City and Derbyshire County Councils would be given real powers over things like transport and skills policy to drive economic growth and create well-paid local jobs.

We would have an Immigration bill to stop ruthless employers and rogue employment agencies using migrant workers to undercut wages. This would be achieved by strengthening minimum wage enforcement, increasing the maximum fine to £50,0000 and banning the recruitment of workers exclusively from abroad.

We would have a Consumers' Bill that would include a commitment to freeze energy bills, reform the energy market and embark on a home insulation programme to secure lower longterm prices.

We would have a Housing bill to tackle the housing crisis and commit to building a million new homes by 2020. We would give councils powers to force developers sitting on land holdings with planning permission to build on it or lose it. Three year tenancies with predictable rents would become the norm in the private rented sector and letting agents would be prevented from imposing fees on tenants.

And we would have an NHS Bill to make it easier to see your GP, guaranteeing appointments within 48 hours. The Bill would include measures to repeal the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to stop in its tracks the creeping privatisation of our NHS that this government has been championing.
Other priorities that wouldn't necessarily need primary legislation, but would be mentioned in a Labour Queen’s Speech would include: the abolition of the bedroom tax, a jobs guarantee for unemployed kids and the return of the 50p tax rate on earnings above £150,000 per annum.

In just 334 days this optimistic progressive vision for Britain can become a reality when the British people get a chance to decide who governs Britain at the general election.