Update – we are 10,890 ahead

Mark 14 Comments

Here is an update on three e-petitions about grouse shooting:

Gavin Gamble’s e-petition in favour of banning driven grouse shooting – 24,600+ signatures

Jane Griggs’s e-petition supporting grouse shooting – 13,700+ signatures

Ed Hutchings’s e-petition in favour of licensing grouse shooting – 1600+ signatures

This is the mid-point of the Gamble e-petition – another three months to go – and it clearly is only about a quarter of the way towards the magic figure of 100,000 signatures.  Can you remember how many signatures my (our) e-petition on the same subject had reached at the half way stage in 2016? The answer is 45,000 signatures and it went on to add another 80,000 signatures in the next 12 weeks (in reality, in the next 8-9 weeks) so it is perfectly feasible still to reach 100,000 signatures from here in the next 12 weeks.  It’s feasible but it’s not easy.

Here are the leading constituencies supporting a ban of driven grouse shooting so far – those with more than 100 signatures.

  1. Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Drew Hendry MP, 126 signatures
  2. High Peak, Ruth George MP, 124 signatures
  3. Westmorland and Lonsdale, Tim Farron MP, 118 signatures
  4. Sheffield Hallam, Jared O’Mara, 117 signatures
  5. Calder Valley, Craig Whittaker, 116 signatures
  6. Isle of Wight, Bob Seeley MP, 107 signatures
  7. Skipton and Ripon, Julian Smith MP, 106 signatures
  8. Ross, Skye and Lochaber, Ian Blackford MP, 106 signatures
  9. Stroud, David Drew MP, 102 signatures
  10. Suffolk Coastal, Therese Coffey MP, 101 signatures
  11. Thirsk and Malton, Kevin Hollinrake MP, 101 signatures
  12. Sheffield Central, Paul Blomfield MP, 101 signatures
  13. North Norfolk, Norman Lamb MP, 101 signatures

The number of constituencies with more than 50 signatures has increased from 122 last week to 139:

  • Tynemouth, Alan Campbell MP, 54 signatures
  • Huntingdon, Jonathan Djanogly MP, 52 signatures
  • Fylde, Mark Menzies MP, 51 signatures
  • Corby, Tom Pursglove MP, 51 signatures
  • South Suffolk, James Cartlidge MP, 51 signatures
  • Edinburgh South West, Joanna Cherry MP, 50 signatures
  • Brecon and Radnorshire, Chris Davies MP, 50 signatures
  • Weston-super-Mare, John Penrose MP, 50 signatures
  • Morecambe and Lunesdale, David Morris MP, 50 signatures
  • Selby and Ainsty, Nigel Adams MP, 50 signatures
  • Harwich and North Essex, Bernard Jenkin MP, 50 signatures
  • Aylesbury, David Lidington MP, 50 signatures
  • Winchester, Steve Brine MP, 50 signatures
  • Canterbury, Rosie Duffield MP, 50 signatures
  • New Forest West, Desmond Swayne MP, 50 signatures
  • Milton Keynes North, Mark Lancaster MP, 50 signatures
  • Mid Dorset and North Poole, Michael Tomlinson MP, 50 signatures

The top 10 constituencies supporting the Griggs petition in favour of grouse shooting:

  1. Chelsea and Fulham, Greg Hands MP, 387 signatures
  2. The Cotswolds, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, 283 signatures
  3. Thirsk and Malton, Kevin Hollinrake MP, 242
  4. Kensington, Emma Dent Coad MP, 239 signatures
  5. Battersea, Marsha de Cordova, 238 signatures
  6. Richmond (Yorks), Rishi Sunak MP, 240 signatures
  7. Cities of London and Westminster, Mark Field MP, 206 signatures
  8. Skipton and Ripon, Julian Smith MP, 182 signatures
  9. Northwest Hampshire, Kit Malhouse MP, 179 signatures
  10. South West Wiltshire, Andrew Murrison MP, 167 signatures
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14 Replies to “Update – we are 10,890 ahead”

  1. Interesting to see that the strongest support for driven grouse shooting comes from Central London constituencies. So much for the myth that shootrs represent the views of rural people.

    1. The left-wing townies who allegedly don’t know the ways of the country and country folk/pursuits, in this case clearly don’t have their story straight ! 🙂

    1. For the RSPB’s “support” for Ed Hutchin’s petition to be buried so deep in a little read blog is shameful.

      If RSPB don’t, as a matter of policy, support petitions they should say so and say why (and in that case why mention it at all rather damn it with such a low key mention in passing). I could respect them if they did that. They should also say what they’re doing to further their own pro licencing policy by other means – as far as I can tell as an RSPB member, they’re doing nothing at all about it, certainly nothing effective.

      If RSPB doesn’t have a blanket policy against petitioning, then it’s hard to think of a petition more deserving of their full and public support. They should pull their bleedin’ finger out, annoy a few people who will never be their friends anyway and cheer many more people who are on the same side.

      If not now then when? if not us, then who?

      1. ps thank you Lyn for drawing our attention to Martin’s blog entry. I’d never have known about it otherwise. Some campaign RSPB!

  3. Interestingly, over the last few days (I stupidly didn’t write down my exact start date) Gavin’s petition has gained about 4500 signatures, but Ed’s only increased by some 640. Clearly, lots of people who signed for a ban did not sign for licensing, which I had thought might appeal much more to moderate/lukewarm/compromise-loving people.
    I wonder how much impact Martin Harper’s endorsement (slightly buried in the middle of quite a long piece on his blog) will make. And how much further effort the RSPB will make to publicise their new stance?

  4. Nature’s Home just dropped through the letterbox. p 42 Spotlight on raptor persecution. “The RSPB is calling for improved law enforcement to protect birds of prey as well as the introduction of a licensing system for driven grouse shooting” That’s it! No mention of Petitions to sign or Government Ministers or MPs to write to. Can I imagine your head shaking Mark?

    1. Richard – to be fair, Nature’s Home has a ridiculously long run-in time. The last thing to be written (at least in the olden days) was the Comment piece by the Chief Exec which was finished about a month before the magazine started to drop through people’s letterboxes.

      But – what will the next Nature’s Voice say? Too late, probably for Gavin Gamble’s e-petition to benefit but easy-peasy for Ed Hutchings’s to get a good plug. Having said that – it will be social media that will have the most impact and the RSPB could start that soon. I’ll bet you we don’t hear much until after BGBW ends though.

  5. To be fair to the RSPB, they have been arguing the case for licensing for the past four years – just not as vocally and publicly as some of us might like. Many of us would like to see them go further and support a ban, but that’s not going to happen any time soon.

    Now that they’ve chosen to back the licensing petition, it will be interesting to see how much weight they put behind it. There’s a real opportunity to rally members around this issue, demonstrate strong leadership and pile on the pressure for change.

    It’s not very long ago the RSPB was fretting about losing support among ‘serious birders’. That’s likely to go only one way without greater engagement on issues like this.

  6. There are more than just these three petitions in the game…

    The following e-petitions are all still open…

    Protect raptors in England and Wales

    https://www.thepetitionsite.com/880/711/119/wildlife-and-countryside-act-2017/

    73,000 signatures…. targeted at Defra.

    Protect the Mountain Hare from Local Extinction

    https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/699/720/787/?z00m=29887644&redirectID=2562710294

    86,500 signatures… targeted at SNH

    Stop the Illegal Persecution of Rare Hen Harriers in England

    https://www.thepetitionsite.com/169/787/736/stop-the-illegal-persecution-of-rare-hen-harriers-in-england/?z00m=29287345&redirectID=2562711313

    161,000 signatures… targeted at Defra and the NWCU

    Protect Buzzards Not Pheasants

    https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/656/565/265/?z00m=28241092&redirectID=2562712666

    67,000 signatures… targeted Defra and NE

    The support is clearly there, waiting to be tapped… Are you listening, RSPB?

    1. Keith – trouble is, those e-petitions are not well-worded, are open-ended in timescale and most of their support comes from outside the UK. But they are indeed there.

    1. Mark sorry doesn’t seem to have worked it should be about farmers on schemes improving in most cases farmland bird numbers.

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