David Heath MP
Minister of State for Agriculture and Food
DEFRA
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London  SW1P 3JR

29^th January 2013

Dear David,

I am writing to you to urge further action on ending the suffering endured by circus animals.

Despite the wishes of MPs being made perfectly clear on the matter, I am deeply disappointed, as are many of my constituents, that the Government appears to be dragging its feet on the matter of a full ban on the use of wild animals by British circuses.  

As you will be aware, a recent Defra public consultation found public support for a total ban is at 94%.[1]

In 2011 MPs voted unanimously to back plans for a ban on wild animals in circuses. Yet the Government is yet to provide any timetable for action on this issue.

Instead, you have said that it is ‘impossible to put an exact date’[2] on any legislation being enacted.

I welcome your predecessor’s statement that the Government is “minded to introduce a ban, but have to be sure that a ban cannot be overturned by legal challenge” and would welcome an update on progress, specifically on DEFRA’s consideration of the Austrian Constitutional Court judgment of 21 December 2011 and what legal advice the Government has received in this respect.

Earlier this month, the DEFRA website was updated to say that the department “expects to be able to publish draft legislation on the ban on wild animals in travelling circuses for pre-legislative scrutiny later this session”.  

Given the palpable strength of unanimous feeling on the subject, I would urge you to publish a transparent timetable for action, which I am confident would be welcomed across the political spectrum.

In the meantime, the temporary solution of a ‘licensing scheme’ for circus animals is costly, wasteful and immoral.

In particular I am concerned that licenses you have created will last for ten years,[3] complicating the process for instigating a full ban, and leaving any bill further open to legal challenges.

It appears that, to all intents and purposes, the Government may have paved the ground to ensure that a ban can be overturned by legal challenge, thereby reneging on the Coalition Agreement promise to ban wild animals in circuses as soon as possible.

I look forward to assurances that this is categorically not the case, as well as to hearing details of a legislative plan and timetable for legislation to end the unnecessary suffering of circus animals as evidence.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas MP, Brighton Pavilion

Read the ministerial response here