‘Don’t turn a blind eye to modern slavery in supply chains’ – Sarah Champion MP

Slave-Free Alliance supports the calls made by MP Sarah Champion in Parliament this week over the UK’s responsibility to eradicate modern slavery in our energy supply chains.

The debate earlier this week comes as Energy Minister Ed Miliband’s Great British Energy Bill works its way through Parliament.

In a powerful speech, MP for Rotherham, Sarah Champion, asked the House of Commons: “Do we turn a blind eye to modern slavery in our energy supply chains, or do we lead the way with a just transition?”

She went further still in calling for “the whole of Government and in all sectors” to address the issue of modern slavery. This includes ensuring that the supply chains for green alternatives such as wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles and battery storage, which all require critical minerals, do not involve human rights abuses or forced labour.

Sarah Champion, who was recently re-elected Chair of the International Development Committee, said in her speech: “GB Energy […] is using its purchasing power around the world to increase human rights and improve working conditions, for example, but it also needs to be supporting British-based businesses, because our businesses need that support more than ever before. What we need to be doing is applying pressure on all our trading partners around the world, not just China, to improve standards. There are allegations of child labour in cobalt mining for EV batteries in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and there is evidence of labour exploitation in nickel processing in Indonesia.

“With those examples in mind, I ask the House a simple question: do we turn a blind eye to modern slavery in our energy supply chains, or do we lead the way with a just transition?”

During the debate, she emphasised the concerning situation of forced labour, most notably in the Xinjiang Uyghur region of China. The country is listed as Tier 3 within the US State Department’s 2024 TIP Report due to its widespread exploitative practices and failure to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of modern slavery and human trafficking.

Sarah Champion also highlighted the exploitation of children in the DRC, where 70% of the world’s cobalt is mined. Cobalt is a key component used in mobile phones, rechargeable batteries and electric cars. There are an estimated 40,000 children working to extract minerals in the mines of Katanga and East Kasai. They are exposed to the worst forms of child labour, working under armed military units, labouring for up to 12 hours a day, for US $1 or $2, without protection.

The speech praised new legislation in the US (the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act), EU (corporate sustainability due diligence directive), Canada and Mexico, but referred to the UK as a “global outlier”, with the MP stating that the “UK’s failure to keep pace with our partners has resulted in the global supply chain splitting.” She welcomed the new Solar Taskforce but called for the team to include civil society and trade unions in addition to industry voices.

Sarah Champion’s speech echoes previous calls by Slave-Free Alliance for energy companies to address modern slavery in their supply chains. Our CEO, Tim Nelson, previously wrote about how consumers can avoid contributing to the issue of modern slavery and use their purchasing power in an ethical way.

We are grateful to Sarah Champion for adding her voice to the debate. Just last month, the MP also chaired the Parliamentary launch event for a new report by our parent charity, Hope for Justice. The paper, called ‘Beyond Survival: Living free, not in survival mode, and being able to dream again’, looks at how the UK can improve access to justice for survivors of modern slavery and make several key recommendations.

You can watch more of the debate in the Commons below: