Labour leadership proposes fur import ban if party gains power

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 4, 2018

The UK’s Labour Party is proposing a ban on the import of all fur into the country if it gets into power, effectively killing off the fur trade in Britain following a ban 18 years ago on fur farming.

The shadow environment secretary, Sue Hayman, told Sky News: "I was so proud when the Labour government back in 2000 actually brought in a ban on fur farming. Now we want to take the next step and ban importation of fur all together.”

She also challenged the current Conservative government to follow the Labour lead.

The ban on fur farming in 2000 came after public consultation found “overwhelming public support to end the practice”. But the country still imports fur that has been farmed abroad with the animals affected including fox, rabbit, mink, raccoon and chinchilla.

A parliamentary debate around the fur trade is set to take place following a petition signed by over 100,000 members of the public. 

Despite the return of fur to the fashion spotlight during this century, there is a general feeling that fur’s trend moment has passed and many of the luxury labels that embraced it just a few years ago have said they will no longer use it. They include Gucci, Versace, Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors (plus the now-Kors-owned Jimmy Choo unit). Other labels, without going so far as to publicly reject fur, have been using a lot more synthetic substitutes.

The current UK legislation has been described by pStella McCartney as "hypocritical and unacceptable”.

But British Fur Trade chief executive Mike Moser told Sky News that stigmatising fur, at the same time as leather and silk are seen as acceptable, is also hypocritical.