Tag: scottish parliament

Last week I wrote about the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill gaining royal assent and becoming the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 (see here).

The next big step in the process of this new legislation being enacted is the provision of the two codes of practice that are required to support the new law – a code of practice for grouse moor management and a code of practice for muirburn.

The now former Environment Minister Gillian Martin MSP wrote to the Rural Affairs Committee in January 2024 to set out the progress made so far on developing these two codes of practice (see here).

Last week officials from NatureScot sent a further progress update to those of us who had asked to be kept informed.

As you’ll see (below), progress isn’t exactly speeding along but I think that’s ok – it’s better to take the time and get things right rather than rush through new rules that end up being unworkable or leave gaping loopholes that the grouse shooting industry would happily exploit given half a chance.

Here is the latest progress report from NatureScot (sent prior to the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill receiving royal assent):

There’s clearly still a lot of work to do but NatureScot has time. It’s proposed that the grouse moor management code of practice and licensing scheme takes priority and is finalised by mid-summer, presumably in time for it to be up and running by the start of this year’s grouse shooting season on the Inglorious 12th August.

The muirburn code of practice and licensing scheme, as well as details of the mandatory training courses for both muirburn and the use of certain wildlife traps, will then follow. It’s currently anticipated that the code of practice for muirburn will be finalised by early 2025.

It remains to be seen whether the recent election of John Swinney as the new SNP leader (and presumed soon-to-elected First Minister) will have an impact on the development and content of these codes of practice and licences. Swinney will want to appoint his own top team – he’s already promised Kate Forbes MSP “a very involved, senior position” which probably leans more towards deputy First Minister and finance than agriculture/environment but let’s see. There’s speculation that John Swinney will lean towards reshuffling his junior Ministers rather than the Cabinet Secretaries (with the exception of whatever senior role is given to Kate Forbes).

Current Agriculture & Transport Minister Jim Fairlie MSP is currently the nearest the Scottish Parliament has to an Environment Minister, playing a supporting role to the very experienced Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform & Islands, Mairi Gougeon. Fairlie has been deeply involved with the development of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Act, having served on the Rural Affairs Committee that was responsible for the scrutiny of this Bill prior to his appointment as a junior Minister. It’ll be interesting to see whether he’s allowed to continue or whether he’s replaced by someone with less experience of these issues.

UPDATE 7 June 2024: Grouse Moor Management Code of Practice nears completion (here)

The Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill, passed by the Scottish Parliament on 21 March 2024, has now become the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 after receiving royal assent on 30th April.

A copy of the new Act can be found here.

The irony is not lost on me that all Bills, but this one in particular, still require royal assent before they become Acts. The idea that a grouse-moor-owning-crown-wearing-unelected bloke from the aristocracy, whose family influenced the popularity of driven grouse shooting many decades ago, is seen as the highest authority on whether grouse shooting should be licensed or not in response to ongoing, widespread criminality on, er, grouse moors, is laughable.

This particular grouse-moor-owning-crown-wearing-unelected bloke from the aristocracy needn’t worry too much about the effect of the new Act though. If you look at Part 3 31(1) of the Act you find this:

In other words, if Police Scotland have reason to suspect that a wildlife crime has been committed on one of the king’s private grouse moors (e.g. Delnadamph in the Cairngorms National Park) and they want to get a warrant to conduct a search of the estate for potential evidence, they can only exercise that warrant if they’ve been given prior consent by a person appointed by the king.

Genius. Can’t see any flaws in that whatsoever.

Now the Bill has become an Act, the final stage in this long, long process of licensing grouse shooting in Scotland in an attempt to stop the illegal persecution of birds of prey will be the development of the two Codes of Practice associated with the new Act, one for grouse moor management and one for muirburn. More details on the progress of those shortly…

Police Scotland have arrested and charged a 29 year old man from the Jed Forest Hunt with three alleged fox hunting offences after receiving video footage from the League Against Cruel Sports.

Another man, aged 55 and from a different hunt, has been arrested following allegations of a further three illegal hunting offences. He has been released pending further enquiries.

These arrests (and charges in the case of the 29 year old man) are highly significant as I believe they may be the first following the new Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act which came into force in October 2023 (see here).

They’ll be a good test of whether enforcement measures are sufficient for new legislation designed to tackle persistent wildlife crime – an issue we’ll all be monitoring closely when the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act is enacted later this year on Scottish grouse moors.

Penalties under the new fox hunting legislation include a custodial sentence of up to 12 months and/or a fine up to £40,000 (on summary conviction) or a custodial sentence of up to five years and/or a fine (on indictment, i.e. more serious cases).

Since the new legislation was enacted last autumn, investigators from the League Against Cruel Sports have been undertaking covert surveillance (via drone and on the ground) of five mounted hunts (The Berwickshire, Jed Forest, Lauderdale, Duke of Buccleuch, and Dumfries and Stewartry) and have submitted their findings to Police Scotland, resulting in the two arrests.

The League has published video footage from its observations (here) and an end of season report, which can be read/downloaded below:

Please note: As the 29 year old has now been charged with three alleged hunting offences, comments about his specific case will not be published until criminal proceedings against him have concluded. However, comments about the hunting legislation in general and the League’s findings are welcome, subject to the usual blog policy on libel, personal abuse etc.

Last week the Scottish Parliament voted through the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill, introducing new licensing schemes for grouse shooting, wildlife trapping and muirburn, the total banning of snares and the granting of additional investigatory powers for the Scottish SPCA.

I’ve already blogged about the reactions from REVIVE, OneKind and RSPB Scotland, contrasted with the reactions from the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, BASC and Scottish Land & Estates (here).

Here are a few more reactions and articles:

The Scottish Greens, whose Bute House Agreement with the SNP put this issue right at the top of the political agenda, reaction here.

The Scottish SPCA, reaction here.

Scottish Environment LINK, reaction here.

A scathing blog from the Northern England Raptor Forum (NERF) criticising the Westminster Government for its inaction, here.

A blog by Dr Pat Thompson of RSPB England about what this new Scottish policy might mean for England, here.

And a feature article in The National at the weekend profiling some of the individuals involved in the Scottish campaign:

It was a day of mixed emotions at the Scottish Parliament yesterday where some of us gathered to watch proceedings relating to the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill in what we thought would be it’s final day of scrutiny before being passed.

There was an air of excitement as we congregated outside before the debate started and two peregrines zooming around above the Parliament building was seen as a good omen.

Once inside it soon became clear that the Parliament would, frustratingly, need additional time to complete its consideration of the Bill. Given that a decision had been made that all the lodged amendments for Stage 3 of the Bill would be heard, debated and voted upon, it inevitably turned into a marathon six hour session in the afternoon, not finishing until just after 8.30pm.

Many of the arguments put forward by the Conservatives in a desperate last-ditch effort to weaken the Bill were predictably ridiculous and a lot of it was just a rehash of the same old arguments that were heard during the various evidence sessions last summer and then again at Stage 2 a few weeks ago. It was tedious to have to listen to so much drivel all over again although it was appreciated as being a necessary part of the process so that the grouse shooting industry can’t later claim that the process had been unfairly cut short.

You can watch the archived video of proceedings here and you can read the transcript here:

If you want to enjoy a laugh-out-loud moment, I’d encourage you to turn to page 67 and read Conservative MSP Rachael Hamilton’s contribution on the subject of whether Red-legged partridges and Pheasants could be released on grouse moors to replace Red grouse as an alternative quarry species (spoiler alert – she doesn’t think it would happen, completely ignoring the clear evidence that it already is).

Minister Jim Fairlie’s response to Hamilton on page 71 is very encouraging. He indicates that if other gamebirds are released for shooting on grouse moors, where a licence for shooting Red grouse has already been refused, this could be viewed as an attempt to exploit a loophole and result in new, nationwide legislation that would impose a licensing regime on all gamebird shooting, not just on the shooting of Red grouse.

It’s disappointing that we now have to wait until Thursday (21 March) for the Scottish Parliament to vote for the final time and pass this Bill, although as someone told me yesterday, we’ve waited for so many years that another 48 hours isn’t going to make much difference.

The final (short) debate and subsequent vote has been scheduled for Thursday afternoon at around 3pm in the debating chamber. It’s not expected to take much longer than one hour. You’ll be able to watch proceedings live on Scottish Parliament TV.

Meanwhile, here’s a message from Chris Packham on the significance of this new legislation:

This Thursday @scotgov will be voting through sweeping reforms to driven grouse shooting – snares banned , licenses for moors , burning and wildlife traps and increased investigatory powers for @ScottishSPCA . . . they just couldn’t behave but now they will have to ! pic.twitter.com/0sDsElYDn1

— Chris Packham (@ChrisGPackham) March 19, 2024

It’s a big day today.

The final stage (stage 3) of the Scottish Government’s Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill begins in the main debating chamber at Holyrood in Edinburgh just after 2pm.

For new readers, this is proposed new legislation to regulate grouse shooting and its associated management practices by way of licensing schemes, introduced because of the continued illegal persecution of birds of prey on many Scottish grouse moors.

A really good briefing document is available that explains what has happened to the Bill as it has progressed through Parliamentary scrutiny so far. It’s recommended reading for those who want to understand the Bill in more depth:

At the moment there’s much uncertainty about whether stage 3 will be completed today (as had been expected) or whether it will continue through to Thursday.

A lot of amendments have been lodged for Stage 3 and where typically only some would be selected by the Presiding Officer for stage 3 debate, there are rumours that ALL the amendments will be heard! My guess, and it is only a guess, is that this may well be to fend off any future legal action whereby certain organisations may claim that their amendments weren’t selected and it was all very unfair, prejudiced, a breach of their human rights etc etc. I’m sure you can imagine.

A Parliamentary motion will be heard just prior to the start to the debate this afternoon, as follows:

I think, given the length of the suggested time limits, this gives some indication that the rumours about all amendments being heard are probably accurate. It’s also indicative that proceedings will probably not conclude today (or if they do it’ll be really late into the evening) and may need to be carried forward to another day.

For those interested in the amendment timings/groupings, here is a useful summary:

I’m afraid much of the uncertainty will continue until Stage 3 proceedings begin this afternoon. You can watch live on Scottish Parliament TV (session starts at 2pm in the debating chamber) – watch here.

More later.

At the weekend I blogged about a claim made by BASC that Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie might be considering a U-turn on the proposed snare ban, one of several measures being brought in by the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill (see here).

Many thanks to those of you who wrote to the Minister (and your local MSPs) calling for the proposed snare ban to remain in place.

Today, STV is reporting (here) that BASC has written to the Minister calling for the snare ban to be abandoned. BASC is apparently also asking for the scrapping of proposals that will allow other gamebird species to be added to the list that will require a licence to be shot, and also doesn’t want the Scottish SPCA to have increased investigatory powers. Quelle surprise.

STV states that the letter, which hasn’t been published, ‘raises the spectre of a potential legal challenge to the Bill’.

Jim Fairlie has responded robustly and is quoted as follows:

“It is vital that Scotland’s grouse moors are managed in a way that is both sustainable and environmentally conscious.

Our Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill will ensure that land managers adhere to responsible land management practices.

It is clear to me that our countryside continues to suffer from the damaging effects of wildlife crime, including raptor persecution on grouse moors.

The Bill contains a range of measures that will strengthen protections for our wildlife and will combat the blight of raptor persecution throughout Scotland.

I recognise the depth of feeling associated with these issues.

That’s why we have consulted extensively with groups from across the debate, and they have been involved in every step of the Bill’s process.

I am confident that this Bill strikes the right balance between further safeguarding our environment and supporting our rural economy“.

That’ll be a no then, BASC.

I see that BASC has now removed the claim that the Minister had suggested in discussions with BASC that he might be considering a U-turn on the snare ban. I hope BASC hasn’t been making false claims designed to appeal to its members.

Here’s the wording in the original blog:

And here’s how it looks today:

As for a legal challenge, this just seems like an empty threat. A judicial review can only be granted on the basis that a decision was made unlawfully (i.e. without due process). It cannot be made on the basis that someone (i.e. BASC) doesn’t like the decision.

Given the extensive level of consultations and evidence sessions relating to the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill, in all of which BASC has been engaged, I’d be utterly gobsmacked if a court decided the process of this Bill has been unlawful in any way, shape or form.

The Bill is currently at Stage 3 and will be debated by the entire Scottish Parliament on Tuesday 19th March, followed by a final vote to pass it onto statute.

UPDATE 15.00hrs:

Other media sites are also covering this story and a piece on the politics.co.uk website includes a bit more detail about BASC’s foot-stamping tantrum. It’s not just the snare ban, addition of more gamebirds for licensing, or SSPCA powers that they’re objecting to- it’s also the extent of the relevant offences that may trigger a licence suspension/revocation, and the definition of peatland being 40cm depth:

The National has also run a piece, including a quote from Max Wiszniewski, Campaign Manager at REVIVE, the coalition for grouse moor reform:

“It’s unsurprising to see the shooting fraternity making a last ditch attempt to water down this legislation, to avoid necessary scrutiny of their woefully unregulated and destructive industry.

“Grouse moors are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of animals, the burning of huge swathes of Scotland and the pollution of the land from lead shot and toxic medicated medicated grit that’s spread throughout the countryside – all so more grouse can be shot by a few wealthy people for sport.

“While the grouse moor bill could go further to tackle this circle of destruction, it marks an important and necessary intervention into land management activities and a full ban on snaring would be an important gain for animal welfare, something that seems is of little concern to the industry.

“The Government would do well, to continue to reject these cynical attempts to rebrand snaring which up until now, has fooled no-one.”