Cross-Party Letter on Fur Sale and Imports May 2026

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  Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP

  Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

  Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

  2 Marsham Street

  London

  SW1P 4DF

  19 May 2026

  Dear Secretary of State,

  We welcome the Government’s publication of the Animal Welfare Committee’s (AWC) opinion on the

  responsible sourcing of fur, and Defra’s summary of responses to the 2021 Call for Evidence on the fur

  trade. In light of this growing body of evidence and public support, we are writing to encourage the

  Government to now make swift progress on introducing a UK ban on fur sales and imports.

  The AWC’s opinion is clear that the welfare needs of animals farmed for fur cannot be met within

  existing commercial production systems. It also raises serious concerns about the welfare impacts of

  trapping, and concludes that existing assurance schemes and market mechanisms are not sufficient

  to safeguard animal welfare. More than 96% of the almost 30,000 respondents to the 2021 Call for

  Evidence strongly agreed that killing animals for their fur is wrong. Despite banning fur farming more

  than two decades ago, the UK imports millions of pounds worth of animal fur from overseas every

  year, creating a double standard.

  We are concerned by recent media reports indicating that the EU reset could compromise the UK

  Government’s ability to ban fur imports and sales. We would welcome your confirmation that

  processed fur articles will not be treated as within scope of the UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS)

  Agreement. The proposed working group on fur should now be convened without delay and asked to

  recommend a pathway for a ban on the import and sale of fur.

  We urge the Government to deliver on its recent Animal Welfare Strategy commitment to ‘uphold high

  animal welfare standards in trade’ by ending the UK’s role in the global fur trade for good.

  We should be grateful to receive your response to this letter.

  Yours sincerely,

  Ruth Jones

  MP for Newport West & Islwyn

  Paula Barker MP

  Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

  Lorraine Beavers MP

  Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

  Siân Berry MP

  Bob Blackman CBE MP

  Richard Burgon MP

  Irene Campbell MP

  Danny Chambers MP

  Sarah Champion MP

  Dr Ellie Chowns MP

  Daisy Cooper MP

  Alex Davies-Jones MP

  Neil Duncan-Jordan MP

  Sarah Dyke MP

  Cat Eccles MP

  Alex Easton MP

  Patricia Ferguson MP

  Baroness Fookes DBE

  Mary Kelly Foy MP

  Baroness Gale

  Lord Gascoigne

  Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

  Wera Hobhouse MP

  Baroness Helic

  Baroness Hussein-Ece OBE

  Alison Hume MP

  Liz Jarvis MP

  Terry Jermy MP

  Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

  Kim Johnson MP

  Clive Lewis MP

  Seamus Logan MP

  Douglas McAllister MP

  Kerry McCarthy MP

  Rachael Maskell MP

  Abtisam Mohamed MP

  Iqbal Mohamed MP

  Navendu Mishra MP

  Josh Newbury MP

  Adrian Ramsay MP

  Baroness Redfern

  Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP

  Vikki Slade MP

  Hannah Spencer MP

  Lord Watts

  Jo White MP

  Nadia Whittome MP

  Steve Witherden MP

  Baroness Young of Old Scone

  Supported by:

  Claire Bass, Senior Director Campaigns and Public Affairs, Humane World for Animals UK

  Sonul Badiani-Hamment, Country Director, FOUR PAWS UK

  David Bowles, Head of Campaigns & Public Affairs, RSPCA

  Elisa Allen, Vice President of Programmes and Operations, People for the Ethical Treatment of

  Animals UK

  Iain Green, Director, Animal Aid

  Lorraine Platt, Co-founder, CAWF

  Mark Glover, Campaigns Director, Respect for Animals

  Richard Bissett, Executive Committee, Labour Animal Welfare Society