The Government has confirmed it will amend legislation to require companies that trade goods produced using slave labour to pull them from sale.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has set out plans to introduce new laws requiring mandatory human rights due diligence for businesses, compelling them to remove products manufactured through forced labour and modern slavery from their shelves.
The proposal was detailed in a letter to the Commons Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) Committee, which has been pressing for stronger business protections against modern slavery for almost two years.
Who the new duty will apply to
The new obligation will apply to British businesses with a global turnover exceeding £350 million, as well as non-UK businesses generating more than £350 million in UK turnover.
Firms that fail to comply with the new duty could be compelled to withdraw products linked to forced labour or modern slavery from sale, Mr Reynolds confirmed.
"We believe this package of measures strikes the right balance: safeguarding the competitiveness of responsible businesses, strengthening confidence in UK markets and helping to ensure that goods linked to forced labour do not reach UK consumers," the Business Secretary wrote in his letter to the BIST committee.
Pressure from the cross-party committee
The cross-party group of MPs has been pressing for modern slavery protections to be toughened since it heard testimony from Chinese-owned fashion retailer Shein in January 2025. During that session, the company repeatedly refused to confirm whether its products were manufactured using cotton sourced from China, including Xinjiang, where the Uighur minority are widely believed to be subjected to forced labour.
Liam Byrne, chair of the BIST committee, said: "For too long, it has been an outrage that our great country which led the abolition of slavery has had weaker defences against forced labour imports than either the EU or the United States."
"Now, almost two years on from our hearings with Shein, when the firm repeatedly refused to confirm in Parliament whether its products contained cotton from China, including Xinjiang, we have a clear commitment to change the law."
Next steps
Mr Byrne welcomed the Government's pledge, while adding: "Now we need a clear timetable, a regulator with the resources to enforce the rules, and meaningful consequences for companies that fail to comply."
