MPs, peers call on UK govt to ban fur sales & imports

Humane Society International/UK (HSI/UK), which leads the Fur Free Britain campaign and co-ordinated the letter, is also calling on Defra to publish its analysis of the 30,000 responses submitted to its Call For Evidence on the fur trade earlier this year, it said in a media release.

Fur farming was banned across the UK more than two decades ago in 2000, with Britain’s last remaining fur farm closing its doors in 2003. But, since then, Britain has imported more than £800 million worth of fur from countries including Finland, China, France and Poland. Continuing to allow the import and sale of fur deemed too cruel to produce on our own shores is an unacceptable double standard, say the Parliamentarians and HSI/UK.

The letter read: “The government has previously said that a sales ban would be incompatible with our membership of the European Union and, as such, no action could be taken at that time. The UK has now left the EU, and the government has an opportunity – following the call for evidence on the fur trade held earlier this year – to act as a global leader in moral standards and extend existing fur trade bans (for cat, dog and seal fur) to all animals, thus eliminating illogical protections for some species above others.

“With the vast majority of UK high street stores now fur-free, a ban would have limited impact on businesses, and a proper and reasonable phase-out period would ensure that the few businesses still centred on fur could transition to alternative materials.”

Last autumn, Defra Minister Lord Goldsmith stated that: “Fur farming has rightly been banned in this country for nearly 20 years and at the end of the transition period we will be able to properly consider steps to raise our standards still further. That is something the government is very keen to do.”

In their letter to the Secretary of State, MPs and peers are now urging the government to make good on that pledge.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)