Westminster Hall
11 November 2026
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Westminster Hall House of Commons
Follow its sittings00:22 - 00:41
Speaker 4
Order. The House will observe a two minute silence at 11:00 a.m. in remembrance of those killed in conflict. The beginning and end of the silence will be marked by the division bells. I will suspend the sitting before 11:00 a.m. so that members can observe the silence. Order, Clive Efford, to move the motion.
00:41 - 03:03
Speaker 1
Thank you Mr. It's a pleasure to serve under your chair ship and I'd like to move that this House has discussed hunting trophy imports. For anyone watching this debate who is unsure of what we are debating today, hunting trophies are taken from animals that are murdered by huntsmen, usually big game, in what is the most despicable form of hunting which remains today. In the words of Sir David Attenborough, trophy hunting is what people did in the 19th century, one would have thought people would have gotten over that. In order to bring their trophies or bits of mutilated animals, hunting trophies, back to the UK, the hunters need to obtain an import licence. The UK is among a diminishing number of countries that still licence the import of hunting trophies.
I know the Minister will agree that we must end the import of hunting trophies. We know this because it was a pledge in the Labour manifesto for the last election. So, the purpose of this debate is not to convince the government that importing of hunting trophies is wrong, but to stress the need for action and to end the constant delays. We know that pro hunting, that the pro hunting lobby are rich, powerful, and well-connected. They deploy arguments that confound governments, and diffuse arguments against.
They claim that hunting is essential for conservation, reducing human wildlife conflict, that it brings economic benefit to rural communities, but none of this is true. Only last month, the World Wildlife Fund launched its latest Living Planet Report. Its shocking conclusion was that wildlife numbers in Africa have fallen by 80% since 1970. The global conservation body, the International Union for Conservation and Nature, says that many of these species are affected by hunting. And CITES, the international wildlife trade body, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, tells us that some of the world's most endangered animals are being shot by trophy hunters, including British trophy hunters.
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