This week in the House of Commons, my Labour colleague Taiwo Owatemi presented a Bill to ban the trade in fur, which I am proud to co-sponsor. You can watch part of her speech in the video below.

Britain led the world when we banned fur production over twenty years ago, and Taiwo is right to say we should lead the world again by banning the import, export and sale of fur. It’s what the British public want – the Fur Free Britain campaign, backed by several celebrities including Dame Twiggy Lawson, Joanna Lumley and Chris Packham, handed in a petition signed by more than a million people to Downing Street yesterday demanding an end to the sale of fur in Britain.

Around the world, hundreds of millions of animals are killed each year for their fur. Some are bred for this purpose, forced to spend their short lives in miserable, painful confinement. Others are trapped in the wild and left in agony for hours before they are eventually slaughtered. This kind of suffering takes place every day simply to provide the fur trim on fashion accessories. It is abhorrent and unnecessary cruelty – and that is why 72% of the British public support a ban on the sale of fur.

That is why I am urging the government to take up this Bill. Without swift action, we run the risk of a proposed fur ban being compromised by future trade negotiations with fur-producing nations, which will prolong the suffering of animals overseas farmed and trapped for their fur to serve a trade which the vast majority of people in Britain oppose.