Contribution
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stuart. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Eltham and Chislehurst (Clive Efford) for securing this important debate.
We have been here before. I am deeply passionate about banning the import of hunting trophies. Indeed, I was proudly part of the shadow DEFRA team that ensured that a commitment to such a ban was included in our manifesto at the last election. Despite that commitment, two years on from the election, we are still yet to legislate for a ban. Indeed, we are yet to see a lot of progress on the broad range of ambitious pledges that the Government made before the last election and in the recent animal welfare strategy.
This is not a new issue—there have been such debates before in Westminster Hall, the main Chamber and the other place—but I believe that we now have the numbers to get this done and dusted in this parliamentary Session. I share the public’s frustration at the delay, which is made worse by the confident knowledge that we have won the argument in the House and among the public. As we have heard, polling consistently shows more than 80% support for banning this outdated practice. Nevertheless, the Government have issued 41 permits to import hunting trophies since the election. That means we are complicit in this vile trade until we do something about it. We cannot afford to wait until the next parliamentary Session for a ban, or to replicate the dither and delay of the Conservatives; we need change now. Any further delay risks this critical legislation being timed out before the next general election. I therefore ask the Minister to confirm that DEFRA will introduce a comprehensive animal welfare Bill next year, and that it will include a comprehensive ban on the import of hunting trophies.
I believe that the case for a ban has been comprehensively and emphatically proven—I am sure my hon. Friend the Minister agrees—so I will focus the remainder of my remarks on why hunting directly undermines species conservation and on how to tackle poaching. Due to the actions of humans, more species are threatened with extinction today than ever before. A major global biodiversity study in 2019, co-ordinated by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, found that direct human exploitation of animal populations, such as hunting, has been a major driver of the decline. Despite that, internationally protected species—those protected by the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora, or on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list—remain the focus of trophy hunters. Thousands are killed each year; we have already heard the list.
We cannot turn a blind eye to this crime against nature. The populations of hunted species are declining dramatically, with studies showing that hunting has knock-on effects on animal populations in protected areas. Indeed, local populations have recovered only when hunting bans or moratoria are implemented consistently.
Another myth is that trophy hunting prevents poaching, but they are two sides of the same coin. Permitted and illegal activity are rampant in identified hunting areas. A major example of that is the Selous game reserve in Tanzania, previously the largest hunting area in Africa. Despite its prolific commercial use, 55,000 elephants were poached on the reserve between 2007 and 2014, leading to an estimated population decline of 80%. That prompted the Tanzanian Government in 2018 to accuse hunting companies of being complicit in a national poaching crisis. Shortly afterwards, the northern part of the reserve was designated as a national park, in which hunting was banned.
I pay tribute to all those who have continued to campaign over the years to get this ban in place, including the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting. Let us be clear that trophy hunting drives international demand for the body parts of threatened species, whether licensed or poached. That directly undermines global efforts to tackle the illegal trade in animal parts, such as ivory or rhino horns. The only way we can drive down global demand is to end the UK’s participation in this immoral enterprise. That requires a comprehensive ban on trophy hunting imports, and I implore the Minister to bring that forward as soon as possible.
We have been here before. We have had the debate before, we know the arguments and we know what needs to be done. There is cross-party support; we have heard that very clearly today. Please, Minister, let us just get on with it.