There is no disguising the fact that the Animal Welfare Party (AWP) has an uphill struggle making a mark on UK politics. The country’s ‘first past the post’ electoral system is an almost insurmountable hurdle for nonmainstream parties. Now, with the UK’s impending exit from the EU, it has become even harder to gain a breakthrough.
However, if the AWP’s leader, Vanessa Hudson, is downhearted, she doesn’t show it. First, this is clearly still early days for a party that was only formed at the end of 2006. Second, the UK party can take considerable consolation and heart from the progress of some of its continental European counterparts.