BASC campaign indicates healthy support for shooting in new parliament

[Simon Clarke]

BASC campaign indicates healthy support for shooting in new parliament.

 

 

10th May 2010…………….……………………………………………….immediate release

 

Nearly 40% of MPs in the newly elected parliament have expressed their support for shooting through an online campaign run by the UK’s largest shooting organisation, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC).

 

The campaign, which allowed people to contact their candidates directly with a list of questions on shooting, produced responses from 45% of all elected MPs. Only 6 elected MPs declared themselves to be opposed to shooting.

 

Christopher Graffius, BASC director of communications, said: “The response to this campaign has outstripped that of previous elections where we relied on letters and postcards. In 2005 less than 5% of elected MPs responded to our pre-election campaign, compared to 45% this time around. The work to follow up on these contacts begins now.”

 

BASC will also be running a new campaign to define the position of the MPs who did not respond before the election. Members will be able to use a revised website to contact their local MPs and canvass their views.

 

Christopher Graffius said: “We aim to build broad all-party support for shooting. BASC and its members will be seeking out MPs who have not yet expressed their views on shooting and will target those who declared themselves to be unsure or under-informed about shooting, its conservation benefits and contribution to the economy.” ENDS

 

Notes to editors:

290 elected MPs replied before the election.

172 MPs said they support shooting conducted according to existing codes of practice.

80 MPs said they were supportive but with some reservations.

25 MPs said they were neutral.

Seven MPs said they did not know and six said they oppose shooting.

For more information please call the BASC press office on 01244 573031. An ISDN line is available for radio interviews.

[sitsinhedges]

Do you have a list so we all know how 'our' MP stands on this

[Gully]

Good work. Its going to be interesting to see how the free vote on hunting will pan out now that the Tories don't have a majority.

[Gareth W]

There is no Parliament yet, so I wouldn't get to excited. It could still become a labour, liberal, snp coalition

[Kent Militia]

My MP is actually chairman of a local Rifle club.

[David BASC]

We may not have a parliament, but we do have elected MP's who will make up the parliament.

 

Simon Hart - Ch Exec CA and new Tory MP has said the hunting bill is not a priority, he said ' There are obviously more pressing matters that need to be attended to'

 

David

[Highlander]

In spite of all the hype prior to the election and even assuming DC does get the top job I can’t see the promised ‘open vote’ being a priority. Without a storming majority DC doesn’t have a snowballs chance in hell of pushing through a repeal on the hunting bill and to try and fail would be worse than the options we have at present. Don’t hold your breath...unless Nick Clegg agrees as part of any Tory/Lib pact, then things could get interesting.

 

Personally (and in spite of wishing the ban overturned) I think we (the country) has more pressing stuff to worry about.

[Christopher Graffius]

The election website should go up in the next week in its new form for the parliament that will meet in the next week or so. By entering your post code you will be able to see where your MP stands on shooting and then email them as a constituent either to encourage them to tell us where they stand if they haven't already done so, or to encourage them to learn more about shooting.

 

The new site will run for the length of the new parliament and I hope that we can encourage greater involvemnet between individual shooters and their MPs. Consider inviting them to your club, shoot or local clay ground. Invite them pigeon shooting so that they can learn about what you do and why it's important. The less committed they are to shooting the more important it is to engage them - and convert them. The new MPs form the closest we've come to a new political generation and for the benefit of shooting for the future we need to catch them early.

 

I have a list of 252 MPs who have indicated support for shooting "according to the current codes of practice". They will form the basis of the new All Party Parliamentary Group for Shooting and Conservation which I hope will be twice the size of the one in the last parliament. In the uncertainties of a hung parliament we need to ensure that we have solid and significant support.

 

Thanks to all on pigeonwatch for helping us secure the data during the election - I hope you'll be just as active when the new campaign starts.

 

Christopher