Government still committed to trophy hunting import ban, minister says
Ministers remain committed to banning the import of hunting trophies into the UK, Environment Minister Jenny Riddell-Carpenter said, but a bill will come only “when parliamentary time allows”.
Labour pledged at the 2024 general election to ban bringing parts of animals killed by hunters for sport, such as heads or horns, into the country. Ms Riddell-Carpenter said the government aimed to introduce a bill at the earliest opportunity and within this Parliament. She said the ban would cover trophies from species of conservation concern.
The issue was raised in a Westminster Hall debate, a session held in a smaller chamber off the main floor of the House of Commons. Labour MP Clive Efford proposed the debate. He said the minister’s promise “really is not good enough”, and asked whom the government was afraid of.
More than 40 import permits for hunting trophies have been granted in the two years since the 2024 election. Several MPs said the trophies were still coming in. DUP MP Jim Shannon said nearly two dozen were arriving each year, and asked the minister for a timescale and a date for the ban.
The Conservative government first proposed a trophy import ban in 2019. In 2022 a bill to introduce one passed the Commons but ran out of time in the House of Lords. Conservative MP Henry Smith, who sponsored that bill, accused peers of using parliamentary devices to block it.
During the debate, several MPs urged the government to restart the process by introducing a fresh bill. Mr Efford argued that trophy hunting is not about conservation, does not resolve conflict between wildlife and humans, and does not bring the same economic benefits to rural areas that tourism can. Labour MP Rachael Maskell called for a ban. She proposed making it illegal to advertise safari hunting, and making it a criminal offence for UK residents to post images of kills on social media.
Labour MP Irene Campbell said she found it upsetting that hunting trophies could still be exported from the UK. She cited a Scottish stag head that had been sent to Zimbabwe. Some MPs suggested the government was being pressured by the United States not to introduce a ban.
