200,000 ‘ modern slaves may be working in UK’
NEARLY 200,000 people could be working in slave- like conditions across the UK, a Tory MP has warned.
Andrew Bridgen said the scale of human trafficking and forced labour would surprise most of the public.
He told the Daily Express: “It’s an abhorrent practice and the level of it in the UK today would shock most citizens. I suspect it’s something in the region of 150,000 to 200,000 people.”
His claim follows a report based on police records, by the Centre for Social Justice and anti- slavery charity Justice and Care, that found there are at least 100,000 victims of slavery in the UK.
It said coronavirus will only make the situation worse, as people turn to online fast fashion brands instead of visiting high streets.
In recent months Leicester’s textile factories have been the focus of several investigations, following allegations of exploitation in the supply chain of fast fashion retailers.
The British Retail Consortium estimates that exploited workers in the
city’s garment factories have been denied more than £ 27million in lost earnings in the last three months.
Meanwhile, the National Crime Agency found that labour exploitation is the most common form of slavery in the UK. Mr Bridgen, who is North West
Leicestershire’s MP, said: “The problem is so large in Leicester that there’s no point just reining in a few factories and collecting up a few hundred workers, because all that’s going to do is create a pull factor for the next lot of people to be trafficked in to fill the vacancies.” He also warned that sweatshops are “putting legitimate businesses who are paying legitimate wages and providing legal working conditions out of business because they can’t compete with abhorrent working conditions and slave wages”.
Last month the Government published proposed amendments to the Modern Slavery Act to ensure large businesses and public bodies tackle exploitation in their supply chains.
But lawyer Jennifer Wascak, who founded a human rights legal consultancy called Sourcing Justice, believes the UK’s modern slavery laws do not go far enough.
She said: “The law has no teeth, and even if it did, the Government is not enforcing it. Stronger laws, and the resources to enforce them, are required if the UK doesn’t want to fall behind.”
She added: “As individuals, we have a moral duty to educate ourselves about the extent to which modern slavery is imbedded into our economy.
“I hope that Anti- Slavery Day will motivate people to learn more and care more about the people who make the products we buy.”