You’ve got to give it to the Tories, they are quite efficient and are already sending out standard responses to their constituents about the future of driven grouse shooting. It’s a shame that the responses, presumably from Conservative Central Office and perhaps with some help from DEFRA, are inaccurate and misleading.
I have yet to see responses from Labour or SNP politicians, or indeed responses from any Scottish Tory MSPs (which might well be very different). I look forward to reporting on them.
But here is the standard Conservative response:
Thank you very much for your email and for writing to me about driven grouse shooting and the need to protect hen harriers and other birds of prey. I want to see a vibrant, working countryside enhanced by a diverse environment. Driven grouse shooting contributes to that goal, so I do not support a ban.
It is essential that our wildlife is properly protected, and anyone involved in game management must respect the country’s conservation laws, which are among the toughest in the world. That being said, shooting as a whole is worth about £2 billion a year to the economy, much of it in some of our remotest communities. It supports more than 70,000 full-time equivalent jobs, 1,520 relating directly to grouse shooting. Grouse shooting is also one of the main land uses in the uplands along with grazing and forestry.
It is important to recognise that healthy, active peatland provides numerous environmental benefits and ecosystem services including natural cover for grouse. I am pleased that the Government is working with moor owners to further improve management practices and peat condition, such as through Blanket Bog Restoration Projects.
It is also worth noting that all wild birds are protected from illegal killing by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Raptor persecution, including of hen harriers, is a national wildlife crime priority and there are strong penalties in place for offences committed against birds of prey. I hope you can understand my position.
If I get the same reply from my own Conservative MP, Tom Pursglove, Corby, then I will reply as follows:
Thank you for your speedy reply to my e-action. I understand that over 20,000 emails like mine have been sent to UK politicians in just two days so you can see that this is an issue about which people feel strongly.
Your response, which I am sure you did not write yourself as it is a standard reply, has many errors and evasions. As your constituent I would now like you to read the rest of this email and seek a substantive response from DEFRA.
Your first paragraph: we are agreed that we’d both like ‘a vibrant, working countryside enhanced by a diverse environment’ but I do not agree with you that driven grouse shooting contributes to that goal. You say that you ‘do not support a ban’ which is interesting but a ban was not mentioned in my original email. Actually I do support a ban but it isn’t the only option. In Scotland the government has introduced higher fines, the ability to withdraw general licences from shooting estates and vicarious liability for wildlife crimes. These are all options which could be introduced in England. Please pass this email on to DEFRA and ask, on my behalf, what plans DEFRA has to introduce these or any other measures. Not having any plans for action at all will not be a satisfactory answer to me.
Your second paragraph: I agree that our wildlife should be properly protected but it quite clearly isn’t at the moment. It is not true that the UK’s wildlife protection laws are amongst the toughest in the world – they aren’t anywhere near them. Please ask DEFRA, on my behalf, what measures the department intends to introduce.
Also in your second paragraph: I appreciate that you didn’t write this response yourself but you now have to take responsibility for it being seriously misleading. I wrote to you about driven grouse shooting and you have told me that shooting as a whole is worth £2bn to the economy. That £2bn is an overestimate anyway but whoever wrote this letter for you must or should have known that the flawed £2bn figure includes indoor target shooting, clay pigeon shooting, Rabbit shooting, deer shooting, wildfowling, shooting at 47 million released Pheasants every year, Woodcock shooting, Snipe shooting, shooting partridges of two different species, the shooting of around 3 million Woodpigeons every year and a whole bunch of other shooting which is called ‘pest’ control. I wrote to you about driven grouse shooting. Please don’t tell me that driven grouse shooting is worth £2bn. How much does DEFRA think that it is worth, please and is that worth the mass illegal killing of protected wildlife on our moorlands? Please ask DEFRA on my behalf.
Your third paragraph: I agree that ‘It is important to recognise that healthy, active peatland provides numerous environmental benefits and ecosystem services’ and that is why Zac Goldsmith, the DEFRA minister, promised last autumn that DEFRA would put an end to burning on peat soils. You may not know that the Committee on Climate Change called for that ban to occur this year, 2020. I understand that something called a statutory instrument is sitting in the DEFRA Secretary of State’s in-tray waiting to be signed. Please ask DEFRA, on my behalf, why it has not yet kept Mr Goldsmith’s promise.
Your fourth paragraph: given the recent Natural England study published in the scientific literature last year which established that illegal persecution on grouse moors is the main factor affecting Hen Harrier population levels in England could you please ask DEFRA on my behalf when was the last prosecution against anyone for killing a Hen Harrier in England. I think you’ll be interested by the answer.
The last paragraph of my original letter to you was as follows:
I urge you to seize this moment and contact the relevant environment minister today, to call for action on driven grouse shooting in a way that will deliver enormous benefits to our birds, our landscapes and our people and positive steps towards tackling the climate and biodiversity crisis.
You do not appear to have complied with my request to seek answers on my behalf from DEFRA.
I am now asking you again, as my MP, to pass this email to DEFRA for their full and frank responses to these points.
If you haven’t yet sent an e-action to your MP (in England) or elected political representative elsewhere in the UK then please do by following this link https://wildjustice.eaction.org.uk/saveourskydancers.
Thank you. And if you get a response as poor as this one then please respond in whatever way you wish, but my suggestions are above. Thank you!
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The Tory way. Keep spewing out lies until enough idiots believe you.
Daniel – to be fair, most MPs won’t have a clue whether these responses are true or untrue. They will, at best, glance at them and maybe think @sounds good to me@.
That’s why a firm informed response is important – and tenacity. They work for us, remember.
I would be very surprised if I got a response from our local Tory MP Andrew Percy as he already fell out with me previously during debates over Driven Grouse Shooting and the Badger Culls so no longer replies to my emails.
Stuart – then, if so, he isn’t doing his job properly. I would report him to his Party and to the parliamentary standards committee (at a guess).
Excellent reply. Do wish I could write like that.
Paul – well thanks. You can – cut and paste.
You also are an excellent writer Paul x
Reply from my Regional “Welsh conservative” MS
Another email from the Conservative North Wales Regional MS Mark Isherwood.
Have to give him some credit for keeping people in the loop.
I’ve not heard anything from the 2 independant/ UKIP/ Brexit party Member’s.
Nor from my Conservative MP.
Nor from my Labour Consituency MS. But I’ll give her some leeway as she is the Environment minister.
The final sentence of the standard Tory response above is ‘I hope you can understand my position’. What a vacuous patronising Just stupid thing to say on an issue like this.
Typical Tory response full of errors and grossly exaggerated statements, and with more than a touch of arrogance. This sort of reply is to be expected with so many Tories having a vested interest in Driven Grouse Shooting and so unwilling to take take any action against the associated criminality.
We should not be discouraged by this. We need to keep the pressure on them and one day this whole rotten Tory supported business will come crashing down. It is not sustainable and in the end the public won’t tolerate it when we keep showing them the horrific abuses of our wildlife and uplands that the DG shooters perpetrate on a daily basis.
“It is also worth noting that all wild birds are protected from illegal killing by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Raptor persecution, including of hen harriers, is a national wildlife crime priority and there are strong penalties in place for offences committed against birds of prey.”
To which one can reply:
It is worth noting that despite the fact that all wild birds are protected from illegal killing by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, with strong penalties notionally in place for offences committed against birds of prey, and despite the fact that raptor persecution, including of hen harriers, is stated to be a national wildlife crime priority, the rampant killing of birds of prey on grouse shooting estates continues unabated with no-one being held to account. It is plainly evident that the approach that has been applied for years is utterly ineffective and if stopping raptor persecution is sincerely held to be a priority then a decisive change of strategy must be required.
Submitted mine last night (South Cambs).. got an auto response which included a statement that he doesn’t respond to mass campaign emails but a response to each can be found on his page after several have been received. his link is here but this one isn’t on it yet, so obviously hasn’t had enough constituents hassling him yet
https://www.anthonybrowne.org/campaignresponses
I got a different response from my MP Ben Everitt:
Thank you for contacting me about the illegal killing of hen harriers.
I share in your concern for hen harrier populations and understand how crucial it is for us to protect our wildlife. I was therefore pleased that the Government took the lead on the Hen Harrier Action Plan. This plan details the measures that will aim to increase hen harrier populations in England and includes measures to stop illegal persecution. You can read about this in more detail here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/increasing-hen-harrier-populations-in-england-action-plan
The Joint Action Plan was published in January 2016 and we believe it remains the best way to restore hen harrier populations. Natural England will report annually on progress on all six actions set out in the plan to the Defra Uplands Stakeholder Forum and also copy this to the UK Tasking and Co-ordinating group for Wildlife Crime.
All wild birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, with strong penalties for committing offences against birds of prey and other wildlife. The Government takes wildlife crime very seriously and has identified raptor persecution as a national wildlife crime priority, focusing on hen harrier, golden eagle, goshawk, peregrine, red kite and white tailed eagle. The Hen Harrier Action Plan includes work with enforcement agencies to tackle incidents of illegal persecution
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me, I hope this provides some reassurance.
Kind regards,
Ben
This is the reply from Christian Wakeford, Tory MP for Bury South –
“Thank you for contacting me about Hen harriers which were once commonly found in uplandand lowland Britain but were lost from mainland Britain around 1900. Populations recovered,but the hen harrier has never re-established itself in the English uplands, probably due topersecution. The last survey in 2016 found only 4 pairs of hen harriers in England. Thegovernments Hen Harrier Action plan aims to achieve the following, a self-sustaining andwell dispersed breeding population in England across a range of habitats including a viablepopulation present in the Special Protected Areas designated for hen harrier. A hen harrierpopulation coexisting with local business interests and its presence contributing to a thrivingrural economy.I share your concern about hen harrier populations, which is why we took the lead on the HenHarrier Action Plan. This sets out what will be done to increase hen harrier populations inEngland and includes measures to stop illegal persecution. A copy of the plan is available onGOV.UK. The Joint Action Plan was published in January 2016 and we believe that itremains the best way to restore hen harrier populations. It contains six actions whichindividually can bring benefits for harriers, but when combined, underpin each other and havethe potential to deliver strong outcomes. It includes three measures to stamp out illegality, atrial toolkit comprising two measures for land owners to safely accommodate hen harriers ongrouse moors and a measure to reintroduce them to suitable habitat in other parts of England.These six complementary actions have the potential to deliver strong outcomes and set out theexpected benefits from each action, who is going to lead actions and the timescales for themto be achieved.Natural England will report annually on progress on all six actions to the Defra UplandsStakeholder Forum and also copy this to the UK Tasking and Co-ordinating group forWildlife Crime. All wild birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981,with strong penalties for committing offences against birds of prey and other wildlife. TheGovernment takes wildlife crime very seriously and has identified raptor persecution as anational wildlife crime priority, focusing on hen harrier, golden eagle, goshawk, peregrine,red kite and white tailed eagle. The Hen Harrier Action Plan includes work with enforcementagencies to tackle incidents of illegal persecution. Any persecution incident has a catastrophicimpact on this fragile population.Yours sincerelyChristian W” I would be grateful for advice as to how to respond to him.
Thank you for your suggested response, I’m working through them and extracting the parts I need to respond to my mp.
Here is his response to the e-action.
Thank you for contacting me about the protection of birds of prey.
My colleagues and I recognise the conservation and economic benefits that shooting sports bring to rural communities. A study in 2010 by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust showed that predator control resulted in significant increases in the breeding success of ground nesting birds such as curlew, golden plover and lapwing. I believe that individuals should be free to manage wildlife within the law, and that the Government should only intervene when there is good reason to do so.
All wild birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and there are strong penalties in place for offences committed against birds of prey and other wildlife, with most wildlife crimes carrying up to an unlimited fine and/or a six-month custodial sentence. To address concerns about illegal killing of birds of prey, senior Government and enforcement officers have identified raptor persecution as a national wildlife crime priority. The National Wildlife Crime Unit monitors and gathers intelligence on wildlife crime, including raptor persecution, and aids police forces in their investigations when required.
Ministers have always been clear of the need to phase out rotational burning of protected blanket bog to conserve these vulnerable habitats. Real progress is being made in promoting sustainable alternatives and I am pleased to hear that legislation is being looked at which could help achieve this. Ministers have also been encouraging landowners to adopt sustainable options and continue to work with them constructively. The England Peat Strategy will be published later this year which will detail further how we can protect, restore, and reduce damage to our peatlands.
While there are no current plans to carry out a review of the management of grouse moors, I recognise it is vital that wildlife and habitats are respected and protected, and that the law is observed. I am pleased that the Government will continue to work to ensure a sustainable, mutually beneficial relationship between shooting and conservation.
After speaking to the Minister, it is clear that the Government is very concerned about hen harrier populations, which is why it took the lead on the Hen Harrier Action Plan. This sets out what will be done to increase hen harrier populations in England and includes measures to stop illegal persecution.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Thank you Mark, I had a similar reply from my MP here in the High Peak. Same figures used etc, although did mention he is strongly against foxhunting another law not worth the paper it’s written on. I’ve used some of your points in my reply.
Lisa – many thanks.
I have today received the standard Conservative response with just minor changes from my Tory MP Andrew Murrison. I will reply to him in the next few days.
Alison – thank you – please do. As both Caroline Lucas and Angela Rayner told Chris Packham in his internet chats with them, engaging with your MP on an issue really brings it to their attention. MPs do take notice of the views of their constituents.