Driven Grouse Shooting

I agree very much with both my hon. Friend’s points.

Red grouse are not found anywhere in t...

I am sorry to interrupt my hon. Friend. Does he agree that the question is not just how this moor...

My right hon. Friend makes a very good point, which I will develop later in my speech, and I agre...

My hon. Friend is making a very powerful case. It seems to me that the opponents of shooting grou...

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. Again, I agree with the points he makes.

Anot...

We often hear that grouse moors are sustainable because they receive funds under the basic paymen...

My hon. Friend makes a valid point, which I will address at the end of my speech. Leaving the EU ...

The Petitions Committee is quite new, but I would have thought that someone opening a debate on a...

I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention. I think I have presented arguments on both sides, an...

Order. As people can see, a considerable number of Members want to speak in this debate. To try t...

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate. The moors in my area are characterised by a long tradit...

It is a great privilege to be called to speak in this debate about a matter that touches on issue...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

I will press on—I am afraid I have not got any time.

The owners did that because they love ...

It is a pleasure to be called to speak in the debate. I thank the hon. Member for St Austell and ...

I refer hon. Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I had the honou...

I thank the hon. Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double) for introducing both petitions,...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that we need to take account of climate change obligations? The Com...

I certainly take that point on board, but I go back to what I said at the beginning: we all need ...

The hon. Gentleman mentioned working together. Does he agree that a good start would be for the R...

I certainly agree. I would like to see the RSPB perhaps being less political and getting more inv...

There seems to be a common concern on both sides of this debate, which is criminality. Both sides...

I take the hon. Gentleman’s point, but all sorts of problems come with vicarious responsibility, ...

It is very nice to see you in the Chair imposing a time limit on speeches, Mr Davies. That is fan...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I do not have time.

As I like to deal in facts, unlike Mr Avery, I have read the excell...

I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for mentioning Bingley, in my constituency.

5.29 p...

Thank you, Mr Davies. Let us be clear what we are debating today. It is not whether people are en...

I thank my hon. Friend for coming to see the devastation in my constituency in Calderdale in the ...

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. She will know that Natural England initiated a prosecution,...

I thank the hon. Lady for coming up to the Calder Valley during the floods, which was a horrendou...

I went with the Uplands Alliance and the Moorland Association to an estate in Cumbria—we did not ...

It is a pleasure to be called to speak in this debate, Mr Davies.

Whenever a ban is propose...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not, out of respect to my colleagues, as there are many people still to contribute.

...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not, out of respect to my colleagues.

Some 80% of rare merlin—the UK’s smallest bird...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies.

Many people, not least the ho...

My hon. Friend is making a very important point about cool burning. Does he also recognise that c...

Yes, I thank my hon. Friend for that question. He is absolutely right. A key point about the over...

Does the hon. Gentleman not acknowledge that although landowners make a significant contribution ...

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. A lot of this stuff is done in partnership with Natural Englan...

As many will know, driven grouse shooting is a really important aspect of the economy and rural c...

Since I was elected to this place, economics has been used to justify dropping bombs, supplying a...

I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s intervention, but it is probably one of the most nonsensical I ...

Does my hon. Friend agree that there is nothing moral about knowingly making a decision that will...

I could not agree more with my hon. Friend, and I congratulate him again for introducing this pet...

I draw the attention of the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, as...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

If it is a quick one. I always regret giving way, but I will do so for the right hon. Gentleman.<...

The hon. Gentleman has not yet mentioned hen harriers. A lot of my constituents are deeply concer...

If the right hon. Gentleman—and this is not an insult—had been around earlier, he would have hear...

I must immediately declare an interest as chairman of the all-party group on shooting and conserv...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

We are getting close to the end of this debate, so I will move on.

On licensing and regulat...

For the benefit of all Members here, this debate is scheduled to finish at 7.30 pm. Thanks to the...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Nuttall. I am pleased to contribute to this...

I appreciate the hon. Lady’s point, but the latest report of the Peak District raptor monitoring ...

I would be grateful if the hon. Lady provided me with a peer-reviewed study showing those numbers...

I point out to my hon. Friend that the Avian Population Estimates Panel states that 100 years ago...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for quoting those data. I would have referred to them myself. Fur...

It is nice to be under your chairmanship, Mr Nuttall. I refer Members to my entry in the Register...

The hon. Gentleman has talked a lot about evidence, as have previous Conservative speakers. Can h...

I am grateful for that intervention. If the hon. Lady will wait, I will come to that point, and I...

I am very pleased to take part in this debate. As befits the Member of Parliament for Aldershot, ...

I want to come back to the point about climate change. When the hon. Gentleman talks about scient...

All the hon. Lady has managed to do, I am afraid, is illustrate her complete and utter obsession ...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Nuttall. In a constituency such as mine, th...

I feel the need to respond to that point because I have been named. That just is not true. There ...

I refer the hon. Lady to an article that appeared in The Derbyshire Magazine written by Jim Dixon...

In the Peak district, not in my constituency.

The hon. Lady just said that there were none in the Peak district. I shall confirm it with the ch...

Those who seek to ban driven grouse shooting, such as Mr Avery, who my hon. Friend the Member for...

I completely agree. I think the figures cited earlier were that that alternative would account fo...

On enforcement, does my hon. Friend agree that trying to write a law that defines shooting a grou...

Yes, that would be completely unenforceable and probably slightly ridiculous.

Grouse shooti...

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Nuttall. I thank the Petitions Commit...

The problem is the grips on the land, which are basically big ditches that were dug out of the mo...

I agree with my hon. Friend. When wearing another hat, I am the chair of the all-party group on f...

I thank my fellow member of the Select Committee for giving way. Only 12% of blanket bog in sites...

I am delighted to hear my fellow member of the EFRA Committee talking so much sense. Yes, of cour...

We now move to the speeches from the Front Benches.

6.56 pm

As always, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Nuttall.

I thank those who...

I think the hon. Lady’s remarks referred to me. The only point I was making was that, as my hon. ...

I say to the hon. Gentleman, do not make assumptions about the research that constituents make in...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I am going to move on. There are areas on which everyone can agree, such as the need to ensure th...

Will the hon. Lady give way on that point?

If I may, I am just going to make my opening remarks.

Taking no action over driven grouse s...

As I said in my speech, we saw flooding in December 2015 because it had been the wettest two mont...

I listened carefully to the hon. Gentleman’s speech. Yes, there were unprecedented levels of rain...

I also visited my hon. Friend’s constituency during the Boxing day floods. During that period we ...

That is very much what the former Minister said in every single contribution we heard about the n...

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee report into flooding will be published the day ...

I will, of course, read the report as soon as it is published because, I, like so many MPs, have ...

I absolutely agree with much of what the hon. Lady has said about the need for a wider catchment ...

Indeed. I have been one of the proponents of the need to get on with the wider catchment manageme...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I want to move on to the next issue. I have limited time and I have generously allowed interventi...

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way right at the end. On the all-or-nothing point, does...

The hon. Gentleman may have heard me calling for more research to take the whole debate forward. ...

On a point of order, Mr Nuttall. The Labour Front-Bench spokesperson has been very generous in gi...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that point of order. I am sure that the shadow Minister i...

Thank you, Mr Nuttall. I am just coming to my concluding remarks. There are many issues that we w...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Nuttall, in this debate, which was chosen b...

Will the Minister give way?

With respect to the hon. Lady, I have less time than the shadow Front Bencher took, so I will try...

Will the Minister give way?

I am afraid I will not give way to the hon. Lady, who was not here at the start of the debate.