Reform backs shooting, targets general licences

Reform UK has committed to protecting the lawful releasing of gamebirds in Wales and overhauling what it describes as excessively restrictive general licences, in a manifesto published ahead of the Senedd election on 7 May.
The party’s Welsh manifesto states plainly that it “will not ban the release of game birds or create a licensing regime for the activity to continue”, arguing that existing legislation is already sufficient to deal with bad practice or illegal activity.
It goes further on general licences, identifying predator control as a casualty of restrictions that have gone too far, singling out the curlew as a species “in danger of declining beyond saving” because the tools needed to manage predators on its behalf have been increasingly curtailed. The party says it will review all existing general licence restrictions.
The commitments land at a critical moment for Welsh shooting. Welsh Labour has confirmed its desire to introduce what it calls a “robust licensing scheme” for gamebird release, following a recommendation from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) in late 2023. Under the proposed model, gamebird release would effectively be banned as a default and permitted only under licence, with conditions set by NRW and no guarantee those conditions would not tighten in future.
With polls showing a neck-and-neck contest between Plaid Cymru and Reform UK, the election result is genuinely hard to call, and the political arithmetic in any coalition scenario could prove pivotal for the countryside.
Reform’s manifesto also commits to “rural proofing” all Government programmes, ensuring that the knock-on effects of wildlife and conservation regulation on rural livelihoods are assessed before policy is made rather than after. The party cites a pattern of unintended consequences from legislation introduced without adequate consideration of its practical impact on rural Wales.
The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, which represents gamekeepers across England and Wales, had raised both the gamebird licensing threat and the general licence restrictions directly with Reform UK’s Welsh representative David Jones ahead of the manifesto’s publication.
The NGO welcomed the commitments, describing the organisation’s priority as “safeguarding the Welsh countryside, its wildlife, and the rural jobs that depend on it”, while stressing the NGO’s position as non-partisan and engaged with all parties.
The wider agricultural section of the manifesto sets out a broad programme for rural Wales, including reform of the Sustainable Farming Scheme, development of a 10-year food strategy with farmers, and support for targeted wildlife control as part of a bovine TB strategy.