Why selling and using glue traps has sparked a constitutional crisis

Glue traps are pretty horrific things. Effective, but horrific. 

They are generally plastic trays covered in a super strong glue designed to catch mice and rats.

Any unsuspecting rodent walking over gets instantly stuck and is in most cases completely unable to free themselves. 

According to the British Veterinary Association (BVA), those unlucky enough to be trapped suffer from “torn skin, broken limbs and hair removal and die a slow and painful death from suffocation, starvation, exhaustion and even self–mutilation”. 

They are indiscriminate killers. The RSPCA has warned that birds, hedgehogs and even cats can get stuck.

Animal welfare campaigners have long called for them to be banned. 

Carrie Johnson lobbied husband, Boris, to do something when they were still in No 10.

But it was in 2022 when Tory backbencher Jane Stevenson tabled a Private Members Bill that things started to happen. 

The Glue Traps (Offences) Bill received UK Government support and passed through parliament fairly quickly. 

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But, as there often is in law-making, compromise was necessary, with pest controllers arguing that there would be some circumstances where the traps may be necessary. 

One example given during the Commons debate on Stevenson’s Bill was if rodents were scurrying about the cockpit of a jumbo jet before it was due to take off.

Another was if mice or rats were in a hospital, in a place where no other trap was suitable. 

So that legislation contained provisions for a licensing regime. This would allow ministers to authorise a pest controller to use a glue trap to catch a rodent if needed for health or safety and “no other satisfactory solution is available”.

This new law, which stops the use of traps by the general public but not the sale of the traps is due to take effect in England in July. 

Up here, there was also compromise. Possibly to stop panicked mice crossing the border to hide in our cockpits. 

Professional pest controllers are allowed to use the traps. However, the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill, passed by MSPs banned the sale of traps.

Well, that was the aim. 

The divergence, the difference between a ban on using and a ban on selling meant the Scottish Government needed to ask the UK Government for an exemption to the Internal Market Act. 

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The post-Brexit framework – which you may remember from previous constitutional clashes including the deposit return scheme – means goods sold in one part of the UK should be able to be sold in any other part of the UK.

The only way to get around that is for ministers in Edinburgh (or Cardiff, or Belfast) to ask ministers in London for permission.  

When asked about the glue traps, Defra said no. They said they did “not consider that the evidence presented demonstrates that a ban on the sale of glue traps would be substantially more effective than a ban focused on their use and possession”.

That led to Deputy First Minister Shona Robison accusing the UK Government of attempting to “effectively overturn a policy approved by the Scottish Parliament”.

“It is for the Scottish Parliament, not UK Government ministers, to reach a view on whether the evidence presented by the Scottish Government merits a given policy approach in devolved matters,” she added.

Deputy First Minister Shona Robison accused the UK Government of attempting to 'effectively overturn a policy approved by the Scottish Parliament' (Image: Newsquest)
As Aileen McHarg, Professor of Public Law and Human Rights, Durham University, pointed out on X, this was the “first outright refusal of a UK Internal Market Act exclusion”. 

“As on previous occasions, apparently broad agreement on policy aims, but the UK Govt appears to be micromanaging the regulatory approach taken at devolved level in the interests of maintaining cross-border trade,” she added.

It’s worth remembering that the IMA was opposed by most MSPs when it was introduced in 2020.

The Scottish Government described it as “the most significant and far-reaching assault on devolution".

The question now is what will happen to the framework when Sir Keir Starmer moves into No 10, as seems likely?

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The IMA was also opposed by Labour in Holyrood, Westminster, and crucially in Wales where they are in government. But does Sir Keir have the appetite for looking again at the IMA and the devolution settlement?

As George Peretz KC writes in his excellent blog about the legal intricacies of this, it may sound trivial “but anyone who is familiar with trade issues, EU law, or indeed the American Revolution will realise that trade disputes that sound insignificant can result in major blow-ups, not least when they reveal underlying issues of power and self-determination.”