Decemebr 2021
#reggieslaw petition, Downing Street and Reggie’s law being debated.
This blog is considerably longer than the others, and for that I am preparing you for the whirlwind over the past few months leading to the overwhelming 109k signatures for Reggie’s law, the amazing day we had in London meeting one another face to face for the first time, and the day Reggie’s law was debated. Nothing is too hard when you believe in what you are doing, despite being an emotional rollercoaster for us all.
We didn’t realise how much hard work a petition would be, and what it endured. On June 7th 2021 we started our petition #reggieslaw regulate online animal sales. The petition ran for 6 months before closing in December when it was handed into Downing Street on December 7th.
All the volunteers for 'Reggie' have full time jobs. This part was a tiny battle compared to the rest of the daily struggles we encountered. We use all social media so we were able to share our petition link to our wonderful followers. The petition gained many more signatures than we first thought in the first 10 days! On June 17th we hit 10,000 signatures! We were all so excited but this gave us the fuel and drive to carry on. It was very difficult and tedious getting to the 100,000 signatures that are needed for any petition to be debated. We all had days when we didn’t think we would make it and that we had failed Reggie and our supporters. However, our amazing supporters helped to keep us going. In August, only 2 months after the petition started, it hit 50,000 signatures. The hard work we all put in was eventually paying off.
Everyday we share news articles relating to puppy farming and the effect of the pandemic puppy boom. We made sure to share our petition link daily too in case new followers hadn’t seen it before. We all had to keep on top of social media and creating our posters to share these terribly sad and tragic stories that we still receive today. This strongly reinforces that this law needs to be passed. During the 6 months of getting the signatures needed for the petition, we were also having Zoom meetings with MP’s, Selling Sites, Police Crime Commissioners, Sinn Fein, Rescues, Councils, Home Office, Justice Board, DEFRA, RSPCA, SSPCA, USPCA, Dogs Trust and also charities. We talked about how #reggieslaw will change the way all animals are sold online with more regulations in place to stop illegal breeders from jumping from one selling site to another. This would ensure families don’t have the same heartbreak over and over again.
In October we hit the 100,000 signatures. It was such a mixed feeling of relief and achievement and we all celebrated in our own homes on our WhatsApp group. We were quick to let our followers know with their amazing help that we had hit the target set by the government, and that #reggieslaw would soon be debated. Then we found that it didn’t stop there! With 2 months left we carried on sharing our petition, asking people to sign and share still. Our petition ended with 109,007 signatures! We could not have done any of this without the support of our loyal followers.
Richard left his house in Wigan to walk #reggieslaw to Downing Street. The route was set and Richard was able to get some publicity along the way with some local news reporters. After 2 days of walking over 100 miles, sadly Richard was unable to carry on. A supporter helped Richard and made sure he was safe, attending A and E to have his feet checked. I’m sure you all saw the pictures as we posted them on Facebook. We kept all our supporters informed with daily updates every step of the way (excuse the pun!).
Justice for Reggie was established a whole year ago. Everything has been done over Zoom, and for the first time we all met up at Trafalgar Square to walk the last mile to hand in #reggieslaw. This was the most surreal but amazing day ever for us all. We met Sir Mike Penning, Neale Hanvey, Daniel Zeichner, Carla Lockhart, Sir Roger Gale, Alex Davies-Jones and also Dr Lisa Cameron who have all helped support and back Justice for Reggie. We had so much fun, but on a serious note we were able to brainstorm new ideas for the new year. Even once #reggieslaw has been debated, we will never stop fighting for animal rights.
We noticed how all our hard work was being turned into everyone else’s achievements and ideas. We spoke with our trusted MP who informed us to push for a debate date. We got a date of December 13th which we were more than happy with as we were not ready to hand over our hard work to anyone! The debate was live on parliament tv. All the Reggie team were ready to watch and listen to the outcome of 6 months hard slog. You can read the transcript here:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/587654#debate-threshold
We couldn’t believe the outcome when we saw the amount of MP’s who were at Westminster to support what we believe in, and what we have been working so hard to ensure becomes law. None of us could have imagined the support we received that day. We met some of the MP’s the day we went to Downing Street but nothing prepared us for how fantastically well the debate went, which in part, was very emotional. We have some months ahead of us with meetings and upcoming debates.
The Justice for Reggie team have worked tirelessly to ensure the petition made it to debate. Here are some quotes from the team explaining how they felt during the campaign:
“I felt overwhelmed and heartened that so many people care.” Chris
“Excited and relieved that our hard work paid off but we can’t afford to let it slip now. We need to keep going.” Holly
“I feel the same, I also enjoyed being a bit of a rebel and putting our posters up where I shouldn’t during the night.” Lynne
“The amazing feeling of achieving something people only dream of and being able to call this brilliant team friends.” Em
“Relieved and emotional that Reggie and the other animals didn’t die in vain.” Ann
“Ecstatic! Couldn't believe that you guys just kept going and had the faith to try EVERYTHING to get to the 100,000 signature target. You all just kept going... Chipping away day after day! A unique group of passionate, caring, motivational and inspiring people who have already done so much for dogkind! I am honoured to know you and work with you! Sam
“The fact that 100,000 people plus raised their voice for unprotected animals is a feeling that can’t be described with words but still celebrated wholeheartedly.” Anthi
“Pleased that everyone backed us and the general public backed us to hopefully bring in a change of law for the better.” Richard
We will not stop fighting for what we believe in and the changes that need to happen, for the animals and for the families. Nobody should suffer and with a law such as Reggie’s, animal welfare will strive.
A big thank you for supporting us and believing in what we are doing.
