UK Government's Minister for Nature 'Snubs' 400,000 Wildlife Campaigners

IMPORTANT UPDATE: 7/12/24 @ 17.35pm:-
​
Following the publication of this blog post (below), I have just heard from the office of Minister Creagh, with an apology for not having responded sooner.
I have been assured that the matter has been picked up, and escalated, and that the issues raised in our petition are being looked into with policy officials in Defra and Natural England.
I've also been informed that a formal response from the Minister will be shared with me shortly, once internal discussions on this have finished.

So, excellent progress.
Thanks to every one of you who has shared, commented and helped to get our concerns noticed. 
I'll be in touch again when I have a further update.
Best,
Jase
***************************************************************************
As our landmark petition reaches 400,727 signatures, the ​UK's official Minister for Nature has failed to acknowledge the concerns of the country's wildlife campaigners.

I reported on my blog last month that I had written to Mary Creagh, the UK's new Minister for Nature, on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of people who support our campaign; we are calling for an overhaul and reform of the UK's current wildlife licensing system, a system that facilitates the mass culling of wildlife in the UK.
Our work has focused on two government agencies, Natural England and NatureScot, both of which issue lethal control licences to 'manage' wildlife.  In particular we have concerns over the licences affecting wild birds. Some of these licences are issued for contentious and often spurious reasons, and include those that allow culling species of high conservation concern.

UK's nature lovers feel 'snubbed' by minister
Our campaign began back in 2018, and since then we have managed to achieve some significant changes to the system, not least ensuring the transparency of data by persuading Natural England and NatureScot to publish regular licence declarations, thereby allowing the public to see and scrutinize details of the controversial licences. This has allowed us to raise concerns over individual licences and enabled discussions with the authorities responsible.

So you might have thought that the UK's Minister for Nature, whose remit includes responsibility for 'domestic biodiversity', would be interested in the opinions of 400,000 people who love nature.
I've written to the minister twice now, on behalf of the good folks who have signed our petition, and have not even had the courtesy of an acknowledgement. It feels like a snub for the hundreds of thousands of people who care passionately about this country's wildlife - and begs the question as to what 'Minister for Nature' actually means.

We are a large group of good people who are worried about the state of nature in the UK, we see our precious wildlife being destroyed before our eyes - and we have a Minister for Nature who has apparently ignored our polite and respectful request for our concerns to be noted and acknowledged.

Follow the money?
As mentioned earlier, the minister's remit includes responsibility for 'domestic biodiversity' and indeed she is also the 'lead for Natural England', so you might assume she'd be interested in the views of a huge number of genuine nature lovers who have worked very hard to bring about changes to the failing system.
The minister's job description also includes responsibility for 'green finance', whatever that means. Perhaps money takes priority over nature, (something we see time and time again in this country).

Whatever the reason for the minister's silence, we can only speculate for now. It would certainly be helpful to know her thoughts on the current licensing system, how she views nature in the UK, and what she intends to do to protect 'domestic biodiversity'.
Alas, we might never know.

People power - a powerful force for good
It is really disappointing that the government's minister for nature has not responded to the voices of those striving to protect nature in the UK.
What our campaign has achieved so far is incredible, what we can accomplish together going forward can be just as impressive. The wildlife of the UK relies on us, as individuals, doing what we can on the ground - it might be that the government doesn't care, but we do and that is a more powerful force for good than any government minister could ever hope to be.

The campaign continues.