Conservatives pledge to fight shoot licensing as Defra deadline nears

The Conservative Defra team will work to protect shooting from measures such as shoot licensing, shadow farming minister Robbie Moore told a reception hosted by BASC and the Angling Trust at the party’s conference in Birmingham on 5 October. The pledge comes with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) call for evidence on gamebird releasing and shooting closing on 1 November.

What was said at the reception?

The event at the ICC Birmingham was hosted by Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, MP for North Cotswolds and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Shooting and Conservation. “Shooting is really the heart, the glue that holds rural areas together,” he told guests, warning that a licensing system would hand government control over how shoots operate.

Mr Moore, MP for Keighley and Ilkley, said the party needed the rural community’s support to make the case from opposition. “Politics is about numbers,” he said. “Please engage with us because we want to have your backs.” He added: “We are going to need all of your help to make sure that we are banging the drum for the rural economy, for rural growth and for food security, but also for the rural way of life.”

An all-party push before 1 November

The Birmingham reception was the last of four BASC and Angling Trust rural receptions this autumn, following events at the Reform UK, Liberal Democrat and Labour conferences. Jak Abrahams, BASC director of public affairs, said the message had been the same at each: “shooting brings rural communities together and pays for conservation that benefits everyone. Decisions about its future must be based on evidence.”

“Defra’s review is the chance to provide it, and we need everyone involved in shooting to respond by 1 November. One email is all it takes,” he said.

The reception also paid tribute to Christopher Graffius, BASC’s executive director of communications and public affairs, who died in February after almost 25 years with the association. Sir Geoffrey told guests a plaque will be installed in his honour at BASC’s Marford Mill headquarters.

What happens next?

Defra’s call for evidence remains open until 1 November, and BASC is urging everyone who shoots to submit their own experience of what game shooting delivers before the deadline.