Sue Hayman’s full speech on the UK ivory ban

Mr Speaker, action to tackle the international trade in ivory is welcome, if not long overdue. As I have already confirmed to the Secretary of State, this side of the House will not be opposing this Bill but will seek to improve it at committee stage. Labour’s 2017 manifesto pledged an outright ban on the ivory trade, which was also re-affirmed in our recently published animal welfare plan.

There now exists widespread and cross-party recognition that a comprehensive ban on the sale of ivory is needed. Despite a ban on the sale of new ivory for over 40 years, under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the decline in elephant populations demonstrates that this ban has simply not stopped the illegal trade.

This illegal wildlife trade has grown rapidly in recent years, and is now estimated to be the fourth largest transnational illegal trade, worth over £15bn per year. We know that the illegal wildlife trade drives corruption and has also been linked to other forms of organised crime, such as arms trading, human trafficking and drugs.

The number of elephants in the wild has declined by almost a third in the last decade with around 20,000 a year being slaughtered due to the global demand for ivory – that is, Mr Speaker, an average of around 55 a day.

While Britain is not a country of highest concern in terms of our contribution to the global illegal ivory trade, there is evidence that the UK legal ivory market is being used to launder illegal ivory, and that ivory is then legally and illegally shipped to Asian countries.

A 2016 survey by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, found that while ivory sales have declined since 2004, the UK was still a net exporter of ivory. There was also some discrepancy in the numbers: the UK reported that only 17 raw tusks were exported to other countries, but importing countries reported 109 tusks that had arrived from the UK. TRAFFIC also found that UK ivory traders were often unclear about the laws around the legal ivory trade.

Our priority has to be to protect elephants and all other endangered species which are hunted for their ivory in Africa and Asia. We have all seen pictures of devastated elephant carcasses left strewn around, often with a young calf left by its mother’s body, mourning her loss.

Such pitiful scenes remind us just what is at stake and why this legislation before us today is so vital. We must send a clear message at home and internationally, that the only ivory we will value is that on a live elephant in the wild.

Mr Speaker, a more comprehensive ban on ivory, building on China’s decision at the end of 2017 to close its domestic ivory market, is a step towards giving the UK greater credibility in seeking to persuade other countries in Asia with a history of ivory trade – in particular Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Laos and Myanmar – to also commit to closing their domestic ivory markets. I would be grateful if the Secretary of State can confirm today what action he is taking in this regard?

As well as wide support from charities and politicians, the public also feels passionately about this ban. There have been more than 70,000 response to the Government’s consultation, making it one of the largest consultation responses seen by DEFRA. There is now broad consensus that the legal domestic ivory markets contribute to illegal poaching in two main ways: firstly, by fuelling the demand for ivory, and secondly, by providing a hiding place for illegal modern ivory to be laundered through the legal market.

However, despite the broad consensus in favour of a ban on ivory sales, there is also agreement, including from the World Wildlife Fund, that there will need to be certain exemptions.

There will be an opportunity to debate some of the finer points of the Bill at committee stage, but I just wanted to touch upon some key questions here today:

We need to ensure that this legislation can be properly enforced through adequate resourcing. It must be clear that there will be oversight and penalties, including imprisonment as well as heavy fines.

This House also needs assurances from the Secretary of State that he will strengthen and resource specialised enforcement, to combat illegal ivory dealing on the internet in particular, and I would be grateful if the Right Honourable Gentleman could elaborate further on this point in his response.

We also need further clarity on several of the definitions in the list of exemptions shown in the Bill, for example around portrait miniatures and items of ‘museum quality’. Further questions will undoubtedly need to be asked in relation to the de minimis rule, as well as closing loopholes for potential abuse of the system through replacement certificates.

Can the Secretary of State clarify whether he plans to issue any new sentencing guidance along with this new legislation? We need to make sure that the judiciary has the right level of information and training to issue appropriate sentences which will then act as an effective deterrent.

International cooperation to end the ivory trade cannot be overstated. We look forward to hearing more detail around the specific role and actions to be taken by the government in this regard.

Mr Speaker, Labour has always been the party of animal welfare, from banning fox hunting and fur farms in the UK, to introducing the landmark Animal Welfare Act. Our 50-point Animal Welfare Plan unveiled earlier this year offers a comprehensive and ambitious set of proposals for advancing animal welfare standards based on the latest science and understanding. Animal welfare policy must be taken seriously, be comprehensive, and not just be based on ‘campaign of the month’.

As Honourable Members will know, the party opposite made promises to ban the ivory trade in its 2010 and 2015 manifestos. After failing to act, the pledge was then quietly dropped from its 2017 manifesto. I am proud that Labour’s last manifesto called for a ban on ivory sales, and that the government has finally chosen to follow suit.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate the assurance that Labour will support the Bill at second reading, and we hope that the government and the House will give careful consideration to strengthen it in committee and subsequent stages.

Sue Hayman is Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and MP for Workington.