Cabinet row as plan to ban fur and fois gras trade scrapped by PM
A row has erupted in cabinet over plans to scrap a ban on the import and sale of fur and foie gras after No 10 was convinced to kill off policies that would outlaw the trade.
Lord Goldsmith, the environment minister and the ban’s main proponent, spoke out after his colleagues, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, persuaded the prime minister to ditch the proposals.
In response to those in cabinet who do not agree with the ban, Goldsmith said: “The public are strongly in favour of measures to curb the fur trade and foie gras.
“There are some who view the issue as a matter of personal choice, but no one would extend that principle to things like dog fighting or bear baiting, so it’s not clear why fur farming or force feeding geese, which arguably are associated with far greater levels of cruelty, should be any different.”
There is hope among ministers who are in favour of the bill that it is not yet completely off the table, though sources say “that is the direction of travel”. The ban was supposed to be part of a raft of measures which would position post-Brexit Britain as a world leader on animal welfare.
Sources in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the ban had been removed from the animals abroad bill as an attempt to scrap the policy altogether. The production of fur and foie gras products are banned in the UK.
The Guardian understands that Rees-Mogg made the intervention as he does not believe banning things to be Conservative in nature.
This is a further sign of the struggle for Boris Johnson’s ear being played out by the more libertarian side of the party and the more ecologically minded. Some on the rightof the party believe such bans are against free-trade principles, and that the purchase of such
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