MPs have urged the government to set up an adjudicator to stamp about abuses in the UK fashion supply chain – after hearing evidence of underpayment of wages and poor conditions.
The Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said voluntary initiatives by the sector had failed to produce improvements.
Introducing a garment trade adjudicator to police the industry could help stop breaches of labour market regulation in the industry, the committee said.
Thousands working in slave-like conditions in Leicester
The MPs have been taking evidence on abuses among domestic and global supply chains used by British retailers.
EAC chairman Philip Dunne said: “The committee has been shocked by revelations over the last three years of labour market exploitation, under our very noses, in certain quarters of the UK’s garment industry.
VR Niti Sejpal
