Peers will be able to keep their ermine under fur ban plan
MEMBERS of the House of Lords will be allowed to wear their ermine robes, and families can pass down treasured mink coats in planned exemptions from an imminent fur ban, The Daily Telegraph understands.
Ministers have been considering a fur trade ban as a “Brexit bonus” due to the cruelty of mink farms abroad. They argue that as fur farming is banned in the UK due to animal welfare concerns, fur farmers should not be able to profit from their trade in this country.
However, the British fur industry hit back, arguing that a ban could criminalise those who hand down family heirlooms and stop peers from wearing their traditional robes.
Carrie Symonds, the Prime Minister’s fiancée, has long called for a fur ban, but it is understood that even the fiercest proponents would accept a loophole enabling people to keep and pass on their grandmother’s fur coat.
The planned sales and import ban, would not allow new furs to be sold, but institutions like the House of Lords, which has a stockpile of ermine robes, would be allowed to hand them out.
Those who have vintage fur coats will be able to pass them down, but will not be allowed to sell them.
Senior government insiders said a fur import ban was “definitely” coming down the line, pointing to the Covid link to mink farms and the cruel conditions in which many animals are kept. Sources added that the law would be carefully written, so the “aggressive” fur lobby could not undo it in the courts.
Government officials explained the ban “would be either a sales or import ban”, adding: “People will be able to keep, look after and even give away and swap existing items. They just won’t be able to buy anything new.”
Lord Goldsmith, an environment minister, has long called for a fur ban in the UK. Although traditional robes are unlikely to fall under a ban, the peer has said that he recommends those
‘People will be able to keep or give away existing items. They just won’t be able to buy anything new’
new to the House of Lords choose faux fur for their robes, as he did.
He said: “In the UK, we have some of the highest welfare standards in the world. We care deeply about our animals and nobody wants to see practices which cause them unnecessary harm or suffering. Fur farming has rightly been banned for nearly 20 years.
“Now our future relationship with the EU has been established, we have an opportunity to consider further steps we can take in relation to fur sales.”