Marc - UK firearms laws (different for both shotgun and firearms) are a veritable minefield of complexity, which generally the police force for the applicants local area will handle the process. My personal experience of this is very positive - but this is not always the case, and there have been instances of localised interpretation of Government Home Office legislation/guidance. A useful FAQ for you from the Metropolitan Police, licensing authority for London;

http://www.met.police.uk/firearms_licensing/faqs.html

In addition, although Wiki's can sometimes be misleading, this actually also contains a good amount of historical and current context.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_the_United_Kingdom

I have not noticed a demonstrable toughening of the already strict gun licensing laws in the past 6 or 7 years, but there have been a number of (tragic) major incidents - Cumbria the latest - which saw a raft of knee-jerk media and political reactions as to demanding greater gun control. Thankfully the measured and in-depth review by the police did not lead to any further changes and the current government held off from jumping into rushed legislation; but with fewer and fewer members of the general public being involved in shooting or gun ownership, the societal pressures on shooters regrettably seems to increase.