Tim Bonner: MPs to debate grouse shooting

Over the years there have been some extraordinary interventions in Parliament on rural issues, but an upcoming debate on grouse shooting lead by an MP who recently claimed that millions of grouse are imported into the UK may be a new nadir.

Kerry McCarthy, the MP for Bristol East, has jumped at another online petition set up by the usual suspects to lead a debate on 'banning driven grouse shooting'. Ms McCarthy's interest in this issue is unlikely to stem from the amount of grouse shooting in her constituency, or the priorities of her (or anyone else's) constituents, so I think it is fair to assume that as a vegan she is pursuing an animal rights agenda.

Unfortunately, Ms McCarthy clearly does not believe that her interest in banning grouse shooting requires her to know anything about it, and in a recent debate on the Agriculture Bill claimed that "grouse are imported into this country in their millions".

The Petitions Committee considered this issue just a few years ago when the Countryside Alliance and the Moorland Association took part in an evidence session before a debate in Westminster Hall. Ms McCarthy was not interested in the facts about grouse shooting on that occasion either and went on to describe it as "just about blasting as many birds as possible out of the sky so that they can brag about it to their mates afterwards".

On a more positive note the Alliance held a reception in Parliament on Wednesday evening which was well attended considering the somber news about the spread of Coronavirus. Many of the attendees were new MPs including some with moorland interests in their constituencies. We expect the debate on grouse shooting to be scheduled in the next few weeks and you can be confident that there will be a large number of well briefed MPs ready to correct Ms McCarthy when she deviates from facts and reality.

At some stage someone in the Labour Party might also correct the current approach of its MPs and shadow Ministers to rural issues, which currently seems to be specifically designed to ensure that it remains in electoral oblivion. Despite having lost practically every rural seat it held, including many with moorland in the constituency, Labour MPs continue with overt attacks on grouse shooting and hunting at every opportunity. How they think this will help rebuild political support in rural constituencies is quite beyond me, and even to the majority of the population who do not live in the countryside this narrow obsession with hunting and shooting must look like very strange priorities at a time when the public has so many real environmental concerns. If insanity can be defined as 'doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results' Labour's current approach to rural issues is quite clearly mad.