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Andy Burnham has been urged by celebrities including Ricky Gervais and Dame Joanna Lumley to deliver on Labour’s manifesto pledge to ban trophy hunting imports. The stars, including actress Dame Judi Dench and ITV presenter Lorraine Kelly, have shared a video message to the new Prime Minister with the plea.

They call on him to follow through with Labour’s 2024 promise to stop British hunters bringing body parts from animals killed abroad back to Britain as grisly souvenirs. In the message, they said: “Dear Andy Burnham, we know you’ve got an awful lot on your mind, but we’d like to ask you one thing that will go down very well with the British public.

“Trophy hunting is cruel, archaic, and cowardly. Right now, British hunters are killing lions, leopards, elephants, and giraffes just for fun.

“At the 2024 general election, Labour made a manifesto commitment to stop trophy hunters bringing back their trophies.

“A ban on hunting trophies is supported by 92% of the British people. It’s supported by the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and almost every other party in Parliament.

“Let’s get animal trophies banned now. It’s a no-brainer. Let’s ban trophy hunting now.”

Other celebrities who took part in the video include actors Charles Dance, Peter Egan, Brian Blessed and Dawn French, broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh and rugby player Jonny Wilkinson.

Eduardo Goncalves, founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, said: “The delay is just baffling. The bill is literally sitting on the minister’s desk. MPs are getting angry at being fobbed off every time they ask when the government plans to bring the bill to parliament.

“Wildlife conservationists are beyond exasperated. Even the French – hardly known for their animal welfare record – have just banned hunting trophies. We’re supposed to be a nation of animal-lovers. Voters feel increasingly betrayed by this government over its broken promises.

“Britain now has weaker laws on trophy hunting than the US under Donald Trump. American hunters are banned from bringing Cheetahs and Polar bears home.

“They’re also banned from bringing back ‘canned’ lions that have bred in cages and shot in enclosed fields. British hunters can still do it, though. It’s an utter disgrace. Ministers should hang their heads in shame.”

Labour MP Clive Efford is leading a debate in Parliament on trophy hunting on Wednesday, which he said is an “opportunity to get an explanation from the government as to what they intend to do to bring to an end the imports of hunting trophies on big game”.

He said: “This is a tiny minority of people who totally lack any compassion, complete idiots, who feel that this is some kind of sport when it’s incredulous to me that they can consider it sport when the other side of the sport doesn’t even know the sport’s taking place.”

A YouGov poll in 2024 found that 92% of Britons said trophy hunting is unacceptable, with just 4% saying it was acceptable.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been contacted for comment.