Banning driven grouse shooting to be debated in Westminster parliament

The Wild Justice e-petition which reached 100,000 signatures on Day 20 of its existence back in early September will be debated by backbench MPs in Westminster Hall soon – we imagine that it will be late March or early April.

Do not think that such a debate will rapidly lead to the banning of driven grouse shooting but it will be interesting to see what MPs say about the issue three and a half years after it was first debated. Since that time we have seen more floods, more calls for burning to cease on all peatlands and considerably more evidence of the scale of wildlife crime against protected birds of prey. In Scotland we have seen the publication of the Werritty report which calls for licensing of grouse shooting.

This debate will provide an opportunity for a DEFRA minister to say something on the issue. Heather burning is a hot topic now and this debate will give DEFRA the opportunity to lay out their plans on that subject. If they don’t, questions will be asked.

Wild Justice and other environmental organisations will be briefing MPs on the issues.

Once we know full details then we will post them here and put them in our next newsletter. The newsletter will also include information on what you can do to help this debate go well. Sign up for our newsletter – click here.