Dear Constituent,
Thank you for contacting me about trophy hunting.
I appreciate the strength of feeling around this issue. Around a million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction and the abundance, diversity and connectivity of species is declining faster than at any time in human history. My parliamentary colleagues and I take the welfare of all animals extremely seriously and are committed to strengthening and supporting long-term conservation of animals both internationally and at home.
In 2019, the previous Conservative Government held a consultation on the scale and impact of the import and export of hunting trophies. Over 44,000 responses to the call for evidence and consultation were received and 85 per cent of responses were in favour of further action. The Government’s response to the consultation set out plans to ban imports of hunting trophies from thousands of endangered and threatened species. It can be reviewed in more detail here: Summary of responses and government response - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The previous Government also committed to working internationally on endangered species in our 25-year plan to protect and improve international biodiversity. You can read this here: 25 Year Environment Plan - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
While, in the previous Parliamentary session before the general election, the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill did not complete its passage, I welcome that my colleague, David Reed MP, has re-introduced the Bill in this session. The Bill seeks to ban the import of hunting trophies from around 6,000 species, including lions, elephants, rhinos and polar bears. I am concerned, however, that there is not going to be sufficient time in this parliamentary session for the Bill to be debated so I hope the Government takes this issue seriously and acts on the measures it raises. I am aware that the Government promised to ban the import of hunting trophies in the Labour manifesto and it was notable that the Government's Animal Welfare Strategy, published in December 2025, made no commitment on trophy hunting.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Sincerely,
