Sir Roger Gale
Member of Parliament for Herne Bay and Sandwich (including West Thanet)
The Fur Trade – Retailers “Conning the public” – MP
June 5th 2018
North Thanet`s MP, Sir Roger Gale, has accused High Street retailer of “conning the public” over the sale of real fur products as “faux fur”. Intervening in the Commons debate on the fur trade the MP
Said that “we should throw the book at people doing that”, later adding that “We must not and cannot absolve the retailers from their duty of care. It is absolutely vital that people understand that this trade is revolting and that they should have no part of it”.
“Far too often” says Sir Roger, who is a Patron of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation and an Honorary Member of the British Veterinary Association, “people are sold items, garments, shoes, trimmed with what they are led to believe is “faux” or fake fur. Much of these trimmings are in fact the real thing, taken from animals bred in squalid conditions in tiny cages on “fur farms” that have been outlawed in Britain since 2000. As my Labour colleague Kerry McCarthy said during the debate “A lot of these items have been found in shops such as Boots, Tesco, FatFace, Groupon, House of Fraser and MissGuided – well-established chains that need to get their own houses in order”.
Later in the debate, during which members called for the banning of the sale of real fur in Britain, Sir Roger added:
“When the House voted to ban fur farming in Britain in 2000 we did so because we believed that it was a vile practice and that it had no place in modern British society. We did not vote to move the problem from A to B. Therefore, it is only logical to say that having willed the ends we must now will the means and ban the trade”.
After the debate Sir Roger said: “I propose to take the opportunity to raise this further with the Secretary of State (Michael Gove) to see how best we can take this forward to, legally, end the importing of fur and fur products”.
The Ivory Bill
Later, in the Main Chamber Sir Roger intervened during the Secretary of State`s introduction of the Ivory Bill (designed to bring an end to the trade in ivory goods in the UK) to say:
“My Rt. Hon. Friend will know that there was a debate on the fur trade earlier in the afternoon. During that debate the point was made very clearly that the vile trade should stop, that there was no need for it. Is that also not the case with ivory? That there is no need for it?”
Replying, Michael Gove said:
“That is absolutely the right point. There is no need for it. This trade has been driven by a belief that, as a result of goods being worked or fashioned in ivory, they have a merit or a capacity to confer on the owner some sort of status. That is completely inappropriate. We need to send a message through this legislation that, through its effective operation, we can end that trade”.