I have been contacted by a number of Constituents, who are very concerned that their Firearms Licence Fee increases this year are extortionate. In some cases, this could be by as much as 245%; more than four times the rate of inflation since the licence fees were last increased in 2015. This was done without consultation or any contact from MPs, or any form of transparent calculations to explain the extortionate increases.
Rural communities continue to suffer under this Labour government, following the farm and family business tax and wildly increased housing targets. What will be next? During the election, Labour said that these increases would be used to fund youth counselling. However, now it appears that it will be used to fund the firearms licencing process. While it would certainly be good to speed up and make this process more efficient (it can sometimes take two years to obtain a certificate), I am very concerned that this has not been done in partnership with organisations that represent shooting or understand what it means to rural communities.
I, along with a number of other MPs, have written to the Home Secretary to ask that they reconsider the scale of these increases, and to ask that they work with all relevant stakeholders to create a firearm licensing system that works for all. You can see a copy of this letter below.
