Grahame Morris MP is backing a campaign co-ordinated by coalition of charities and led by Humane Society International UK, which aims to implement a UK-wide sales ban of all animal fur products.

It follows the publication of a landmark investigation by The Mirror which reveals the extent of the cruelty of fur farming.

Investigators filmed at eleven randomly selected fur farms in one of the top countries in Asia exporting fur to the UK. The Mirror is officially backing the Fur Free Britain campaign, as the investigation exposed the brutality and violence of the practise.

Despite banning fur farming in 2000, the UK currently imports tens of millions of pounds worth of animal fur each year from countries including mainland China, Hong Kong, India and Thailand, as well as European countries such as Finland, Italy and Poland.

This latest investigation further reinforces why the Government must end the double standard of allowing the sale of fur when UK laws outlaw fur farming here on cruelty grounds. Fur farming ‘assurance’ schemes or ‘welfare’ standards have been repeatedly proven not to provide animals with a life worth living. As well as using wholly inadequate welfare measures, these schemes are run, funded and audited by the fur industry and its affiliates.

The general public is very much on the side of a sales ban, which is reflected in the growing numbers of retailers and designers who have gone ‘fur free’. The global Fur Free Retailer programme now has over 1,000 brands signed up, highlighting the increasing public and corporate distaste for animal fur. A 2018 YouGov opinion poll showed that 69% of the British public support a fur ban, with only 8% stating opposition. In 2018 an e-petition calling for a ban on the sale of animal fur in the UK closed with 109,549 signatures, and a current petition run by our Fur Free Britain alliance stands at over 700,000 signatures.

An Early Day Motion (#267) has received the support of 94 cross-party MPs since it was published in March.

The Easington MP said, “As the law stands, imports of fur are legal. The law must change. The import and sale of fur is allowed even though the main ways fur is obtained, including fur farming, are banned in Britain.  Killing animals just for their fur is cruel and barbaric, and we must stop funding it by banning imports of real fur immediately.  Fur import bans have been successfully implemented elsewhere. There is a EU-wide ban on the import of domestic cat and dog fur and California is banning the sale of real fur.  The UK should take a lead and become the first country in the world to ban fur imports.”