GWCT caught up in unlawful licensing by Defra
Last week we won a legal challenge, after Defra finally conceded that the issuing of some of their 2023 gamebird release licences was unlawful. We were very pleased, particularly as it took us some digging to uncover.
The process by which these dodgy licences were granted was rather murky and unclear (see cartoon here) – but we know that Therese Coffey was personally involved (she was Secretary of State for Defra at the time). We also know, that she chose to involve other organisations when rejecting Natural England’s recommendations – recommendations given to protect vulnerable bird populations during a catastrophic outbreak of Bird Flu.
Coffey was keen to take advice from the pro-shooting Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) but didn’t seek advice from expert organisations like the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) or the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). The minister who signed most of the licences was Lord Benyon, a land owner who shoots and who has been, when not a minister, a trustee of the very same GWCT.
Since our win, we’ve already heard from Therese, who apparently wasn’t too happy with Defra (Suffolk MP Coffey attacks DEFRA lawyers after legal cave-in). We’ve now also heard from GWCT, who’ve issued a statement:
“As one of the UK’s leading wildlife research charities, Defra called on the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) to provide independent advice on gamebird management and releasing in 2023.
The GWCT has undertaken decades of peer-reviewed research in this field and the advice it gives is based on research evidence and expertise.
The Trust was pleased to have been consulted by Defra on technical matters relating to gamebird ecology and management as part of the ministerial department’s decision-making process.”
What does their statement say about being caught up in unlawful licensing by Defra? Not an awful lot except that GWCT seem chuffed to bits to be Defra’s mates and completely unbothered about the unlawful decisions made by their mates which favoured the shooting industry from which GWCT get much of their funding.
The current chair of GWCT, Sir James Paice, was a Defra minister, alongside Lord Benyon in the early years of the coalition government, Another former Defra minister, Sir Robert Goodwill MP, is also a trustee of the GWCT and is chair of the influential Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee which oversees the work of Defra.
You might be forgiven for thinking that the shooting industry has had an awful lot of influence on government since 2010. And you might reflect on the lack of progress that Defra has made on regulating intensive grouse shooting, clamping down on illegal killing of raptors, banning toxic lead ammunition and reducing the harmful impacts of massive releases of non-native gamebirds on the environment.
Where there has been progress on regulating the shooting industry it has often been (eg in general licences and licensing of gamebird releases) through legal challenges mounted by Wild Justice.