On Wednesday we handed in 210,567 signatures to the wildlife Minister Huw Irranca-Davies demonstrating public support for our campaign to end illegal killing of birds of prey in the UK.
Three MPs (see below) have tabled the following Early Day Motion (EDM) in Parliament:
That this House congratulates the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds on acquiring over 200,000 signatories to its campaign to end the illegal killing of birds of prey; recognises the depth of public support this shows for more action to be taken to protect birds of prey; further recognises the socio-economic benefits healthy bird of prey populations can bring to rural communities; notes that the shooting, poisoning and other destruction of magnificent species including hen harriers, golden eagles and peregrine falcons remains unacceptably common; acknowledges that such persecution represents a major impediment towards the recovery of such species to their historic levels; and calls on the Government to make ending the illegal killing of these iconic birds a greater priority.
Well said! And thank you to those three sponsoring MPs. Angela Smith has worked closely with us on birds of prey and other issues. Norman Baker is a long-term friend of the environment and the RSPB. Alistair Burt has the RSPB's Sandy UK Headquarters in his constituency and is an enthusiastic supporter of our work.
An EDM draws attention to a cause or event and allows MPs to show their support by signing the EDM.
So far, the following 58 MPs have supported EDM 654:
Conservatives: Alistair Burt, Peter Bottomley, Andrew Rosindell
Democratic Unionist: David Simpson, Gregory Campbell, Jeffrey Donaldson
Independent: Bob Spink
Labour: Angela Smith, Lindsay Hoyle, Stephen Hepburn, Joan Humble, Chris McCafferty, John McDonnell, Laura Moffatt, Ronnie Campbell, Janet Dean, Andrew Dismore, David Drew, Paul Truswell, Desmond Turner, Robert N Wareing, Brian Jenkins, Alan Meale, Edward O'Hara, Martin Caton, Jeremy Corbyn, Neil Gerrard, John Battle, Keith Vaz, David Lepper, Bill Etherington, Betty Williams, Alan Simpson, Ann Cryer, Graham Stringer, Rudi Vis, Harry Cohen, David Anderson, Lindsay Roy, Greg Pope, David Crausby, Paul Flynn, David Heyes
Liberal Democrats: Norman Baker, Andrew George, Paul Holmes, Mike Hancock, Phil Willis, John Leech, John Hemming, Mark Hunter, Annette Brooke, Lorely Burt, Andrew Stunell, John Barrett, Richard Younger-Ross
Social Democratic and Labour Party: Eddie McGrady, Mark Durkan
I'll update you on progress with this EDM but if you would like to contact your MP on any issue, or to tell them of your support for the bird of prey campaign, or maybe ask them to sign up EDM 654 then use this link.
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
Hi Mark, here is the response from my Conservative MP, i would appreciate your advice to any further appropriate response I might send:-
Like many colleagues, I have taken the decision not to sign EDMs. There's too many of them, they're never debated and invariably they're signed without proper thought, care or attention.
Yours sincerely,
Charles Walker
Message from:- Eddie - Hertfordshire
Over 210,000 signatures was a great response- now lets hope that the MPs will take some notice of what is now an important issue for a lot of us who care about wildlife. Thanks for keeping us informed of developments.
Peter
Well done and glad so many people signed this as i love watching raptors on my weekends off.
Birds of prey are no different from many other birds and they must be allowed to live,it is their right,thanks to everyone who supports this cause.
I have written to my MP re the above EDM and I got this response on House of Commons notepaper:
"Whilst I support calls on the Government to make protecting these species a greater priority, I do not generally sign EDMs as experience has shown that they are not the best way to make Minister aware of such issues. EDMs also have no legislative effect. Accordingly, In order to ensure that the Government is aware of your concerns, I have written directly to Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs. I have asked him to look into your concerns about the protection of birds of prey. I will write again when I hear further."