Celebrities including Ricky Gervais and Dame Joanna Lumley have urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to deliver on Labour's manifesto pledge to ban trophy hunting imports. In a video message, the stars call on the new PM to follow through with the party's 2024 promise to stop British hunters bringing body parts of animals killed abroad back to Britain as souvenirs.
Celebrities call for action
The video features actress Dame Judi Dench, ITV presenter Lorraine Kelly, actors Charles Dance, Peter Egan, Brian Blessed and Dawn French, broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh and rugby player Johnny Wilkinson. In the message, they say: "Dear Andy Burnham, we know you've got an awful lot on your mind, but we'd like to ask you one thing that will go down very well with the British public."
They add: "Trophy hunting is cruel, archaic, and cowardly. Right now, British hunters are killing lions, leopards, elephants, and giraffes just for fun." The celebrities note that at the 2024 general election, Labour made a manifesto commitment to stop trophy hunters bringing back their trophies.
Public and political support
The message states that a ban on hunting trophies is supported by 92% of the British people, as well as by the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and almost every other party in Parliament. It concludes: "Let's get animal trophies banned now. It's a no-brainer. Let's ban trophy hunting now."
Eduardo Goncalves, founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, said: "The delay is just baffling. The bill is literally sitting on the minister's desk. MPs are getting angry at being fobbed off every time they ask when the government plans to bring the bill to parliament." He added that wildlife conservationists are "beyond exasperated", noting that France has just banned hunting trophies, and said Britain now has weaker laws on trophy hunting than the US under Donald Trump.
Parliamentary debate ahead
Labour MP Clive Efford is leading a debate in Parliament on trophy hunting on Wednesday, which he described as an "opportunity to get an explanation from the government as to what they intend to do to bring to an end the imports of hunting trophies on big game". He called those who take part in the practice "a tiny minority of people who totally lack any compassion, complete idiots".
A YouGov poll in 2024 found that 92% of Britons said trophy hunting is unacceptable, with just 4% saying it was acceptable. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been contacted for comment.
