Trophy hunting imports ban moves closer as peers told not to 'sabotage' it

22 March 2024 , 12:31

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A ban on trophy hunting has finally moved closer to becoming law (Image: AFP/Getty Images)

New laws preventing hunters bringing sick souvenirs back to the UK could finally be brought in after it passed a vital hurdle in the Commons.

Labour MP John Spellar told the Commons that the "barbaric" trade "is something from a previous century" as he pleaded with Tory peers not to again "sabotage" efforts to ban it. He said he hopes his Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill, backed by The Mirror, can be passed before the general election.

A previous effort to stop hunters bringing back grim mementos like back animal skins, severed heads and carcasses collapsed in the House of Lords last year. Mr Spellar said he hopes it can go before Parliament is dissolved.

The Mirror has campaigned for a ban on trophy hunting imports (Daily Mirror)

He said: "This is something from a previous century and its time has passed." And he went on: "How can you defend someone who wants to travel a distance to go and shoot a giraffe, to stand on its corpse, and then to bring the parts back to this country? Nobody seems to be able to answer that question. It is absolutely clear now that the public in this country don't want any part of it."

Tory MP Henry Smith, who sponsored a previous Bill demanding the law is changed, said: "It is not a natural practice of people in southern Africa, this is a neo-colonial import that was brought to that continent during the time of colonialisation and is not something that is native."

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The 2019 Conservative manifesto promised to ban trophy hunting imports, but as yet the Government has failed to do so. Tory backbencher Sir Bill Wiggin spoke out against it, saying: "I don't believe anybody in this House intends to be racist but this Bill crosses the line.

"The Namibian environment minister Pohamba Shifeta has written to our Environment Secretary denouncing the Bill as a regressive step towards neo-colonialism, 'Your Bill implies that your judgments supersede our insights and expertise'."

Despite his comments the Bill passed by 48 votes to zero, meaning it will go in front of peers. Attempts to force a law onto the statute book were thwarted in the Lords last autumn. Conservative peers, including some who support hunting, delivered a string of lengthy speeches as the clock ticked towards the debate’s deadline in September - meaning the Bill ran out of time.

Lorraine Platt, Co-Founder of Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, said she was "delighted" the Bill had passed its second reading in the Commons. She said: “It is simply not acceptable in modern Britain to import trophy hunting imports. Generations to come will look back in horror at trophy hunting; we must consign our role in this vile trade to the history books."

Dave Burke