Thank you for contacting me about the importation of fur and foie gras into the United Kingdom.

I have long supported the banning of both fur and foie gras imports.

Britain led the way in abolishing fur farming but we still contribute significantly to this cruel and outdated global trade by importing and exporting tens of millions of pounds’ worth of fur and fur products each year. Millions of animals are bred and killed for fur, living their short lives in miserable, painful confinement or trapped in the wild and left in agony for long periods before being killed. It is barbarous and unnecessary. We cannot go on being complicit in this inhumane practice and it should be banned at the earliest opportunity.

The production of foie gras on UK soil has, in my view, rightly been banned since 2000, but imports have sadly not been banned and the UK imports in the region of 200 tonnes of foie gras each year. It is time this was ended. The Opposition attempted to ban the importation of foie gras during the passage of the Agriculture Act 2020. Unfortunately, the Government voted this down. We need to see a ban on these imports as soon as we can.

The Government held a call for evidence on the fur trade from 31 May to 28 June 2021. It has stated it is continuing to review the evidence and will publish its response soon.

Regarding foie gras, the Government stated last year that the production of foie gras from ducks or geese which have been force fed raises serious welfare concerns. More recently it has said it is gathering information and will continue to speak to interested parties about the issues involved.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this issue. I will continue to follow developments on this and to call for urgent action to end these importations.