The charity - which encourages people to try a vegan diet throughout January - is calling on Prime Minister Theresa May to support its campaign and ditch animal products

The Veganuary team descends on Westminster (Photo: Veganuary)

Vegan charity Veganuary will speak at an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) meeting on Veganism and Vegetarianism in Britain in the Houses of Parliament today.

According to the organization, it will use the opportunity to once more call on politicians to support a 'Plant-Based Parliament' for January 2020.

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Veganuary has had its most successful outing yet so far - with more than 225,000 people signing up for its vegan pledge - and many more expected to do so before the month is over. The charity's target for sign-ups is 300,000 - which is in sight.

Politicians going vegan

As part of its 2019 campaign, Veganuary has urged politicians to ditch animal products. Prime Minister Theresa May has not responded, but several other politicians have shown their support to the campaign.

Veganuary says Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns and Baroness Jones of Moulescoomb (Green) are both following the Veganuary pledge through January, while others have sent messages of support for its campaign and vegan living.

Support for vegan living

"I've been a vegan since 2015, and I can recommend veganism's benefits in terms of both nutrition and relative lack of environmental guilt," Labour MP Darren Jones said in a statement sent to Plant Based News.

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"Veganuary is a great way to get started, especially as the record numbers of people signing up means that you'll have loads of people in the same boat as you. Plus, it's an opportunity to annoy Piers Morgan."

Caroline Lucas (Green) MP, who earlier this week called for a 'meat tax' in the UK added: "Veganuary provides a great opportunity for people to cut out meat and dairy for a month in January. It's an inspiring and engaging campaign, and one that will help you reduce animal suffering, protect the

environment and improve your own personal health."

'Government has ignored scientists'

"The Government has so far done little to heed the advice of the scientific community, which states that reducing meat and dairy consumption is

vital if we are to avert catastrophic climate change," Rich Hardy, Head of Campaigns at Veganuary, said.

"While the public appetite for everything vegan continues to skyrocket, this has not been matched by policy or political leadership. Claire Perry MP,

the minister whose job it is to tackle climate change, recently refused to recommend that people reduce their consumption of meals like steak and chips.

"Trying vegan for January by switching to tasty plant-based alternatives in the cafeterias of Parliament would be a simple step to take for our elected representatives to lead by example, to show they're serious about tackling climate change and protecting public health."

You cansign up for Veganuary here