As Conservative MPs set off to Birmingham for their party conference I thought it would be worth identifying a few Conservative MPs and their responses and lack of responses to your emails and letters on the subject of driven grouse shooting. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP (The Cotswolds, 288 signatures) – chair of the APPG on Shooting…
Category: CAMPAIGNING: petitions, marches, writing to your MP, HHDay
Petitions update
Online e-petitions are becoming a major way that opposition to government policy is now voiced. Certainly they are vying with wildlife NGOs, journalism and the opposition political parties as the main voice of public criticism. It is striking how many of the e-petitions on the Westminster parliament website are about wildlife and wildlife protection. Here’s…
Did you write to your Labour MP? Firm Briefing 18
Around 120 of you have told me that you have written to your Labour MPs on the subject of the debate on driven grouse shooting that will happen on a Monday afternoon after the 18 October (date tbc). So far, some of you have had responses from c22 Labour MPs but another 68 or so…
State of the parties and Firm Briefing 17
You’ve been very busy with firm briefing over the last few weeks. Just over 500 of you have written to just over 300 MPs (and let me know – new correspondence arrives every day). According to what you have told me, for that is all I have to go on, this is the breakdown of…
Firm briefing 16
If you received this letter from Defra via your MP, and many of you have, you could write back and ask for better information. That’s what I’ve done and you might find my letter a useful model to follow. Dear Mr Pursglove Thank you for the response from Dr Coffey that you sent me….
Chris Packham launches new e-petition
Whatever you think of him, you’ve got to admit that Chris Packham has guts. Despite being abused on social media, and despite the shooting lobby gunning for his job at the BBC, Chris has today launched a new e-petition calling for a moratorium, not an all-out ban, on shooting Woodcock, Snipe and Golden Plover…
Has your MP not replied yet? Firm Briefing 15
I am getting an increasing number of emails from people saying that they emailed their MP weeks ago and have not yet received anything other than the automated reply (which shows that it did arrive!). Please let me know if your MP has not replied to your letter about driven grouse shooting and we will…
What Defra say now – Firm Briefing 14
Many of you will have received a letter like this one which I got via my MP. It looks like Defra is retreating on several areas thanks to Firm Briefing. There is no claim about how well Defra has done in funding the NWCU. No mention of the scale of financial benefit of driven grouse…
Where did those 123,075 signatures come from?
The average number of signatures from each of the 650 UK parliamentary constituencies was 189. Calder Valley was top of the list and Edmonton (35 signatures) the lowest of the British mainland but with Newry and Armagh in Northern Ireland on 25 signatures. That’s a massive spread of support, but what comes out of it…
Thank you so much – 123,075
At midnight last night our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting closed at 123,075 signatures. We now move on to a period of Firm Briefing to MPs and an evidence session in front of the House of Commons Petitions Committee and a debate amongst our MPs. But ‘thank you’ all 123,075 of you for getting…