Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce an import ban on lion trophy items to the UK in advance of the Government's plans to bring forward legislative proposals on enhanced animal welfare legislation in 2021.

The Government made a manifesto commitment to ban the import of hunting trophies from endangered animals, and held a consultation on the issue between 2 November 2019 and 25 February 2020.

The COVID-19 outbreak set the timetable back, as many of our officials formed part of the response to the pandemic. However, we are continuing to work on this important area and will publish a response as soon as we can on GOV.UK. The outcome of the consultation and the call for evidence will inform our next steps.