Exploitation in Leicester’s textile industry is rife, MPs have heard, with thousands of workers living in “conditions of modern slavery” on £3 and £4 an hour.
Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen asked ministers to meet with him and discuss his concerns about the historic sector which remains a key part of the city’s economy.
He said something had to be done about the problem during business, energy and industrial strategy (Beis) questions in Parliament.
The city's textile sector has seen something of a resurgence in recent years with companies adapting to the demands of fast fashion.
Three year’s ago Channel 4’s Dispatches filmed inside three Leicester textiles factories apparently paying workers below the legal minimum.
The businesses were accused of offering less than £3.50 an hour to an undercover reporter – way below the minimum wage.
Leicester City Council figures indicate there are about 1,500 textile businesses in Leicester – employing about 10,000 people – with many supplying high street clothes stores.
It is not known how many sweatshops are working below the radar of the authorities and exploiting workers.
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Punishment for ignoring employment laws can include fines of up to 200 per cent of the arrears owed, naming in the press and criminal prosecution.
Speaking in the Commons during the Beis session, Mr Bridgen asked: “Would the minister agree for a meeting with me to discuss the situation in Leicester, where I believe there are approximately 10,000 people in the clothing industry being paid £3 to £4 an hour in conditions of modern slavery?”
Business minister Kelly Tolhurst replied: “Yes, I would be absolutely happy to meet with him.
“This is a particular sector that has been under focus, there has been much work that has been carried out by HMRC and cross-border agencies – HMRC enforce the national living wage – but I’d be happy to get any details that he particularly has that’d be helpful.”
The minimum wage is currently £8.21 an hour for people aged 25 and over, which will increase to £8.72 from April 2020.
For workers aged 21 to 24, it is £7.70 an hour rising to £8.20 in April, for 18 to 20-year-olds it is £6.15 rising to £6.45, for under-18s it is £4.35 rising to £4.55 and for apprentices it is £3.90 rising to £4.15.
Labour’s Rachel Reeves, who chaired the Beis committee in the last parliament, said the Government was offering “warm words” on enforcing the minimum wage.
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She said there had just been a handful of firms prosecuted and fined over the last decade for non-payment of the minimum wage.
She said: “Where those fines are levied they are only half of the level that they could be levied at.
“Why is that if this is such an area of importance for this Government?”
Ms Tolhurst replied: “What I’d like to make clear to the House is there are other ways in making sure employers pay without just bringing prosecutions.”
Shadow minister Rachael Maskell said there has been a “decade of workers being exploited under this Government’s watch”.
Ms Tolhurst described this as a “complete misrepresentation” of the Government’s work over the last 10 years.