Back in January Andrew Bridgen (the MP for North West Leicestershire) asked Kelly Tolhurst, who was at the time a BEIS minister;

“Will the Minister agree to meet me to discuss the situation in Leicester, where I believe that approximately 10,000 people in the clothing industry are being paid £3 to £4 an hour in conditions of modern slavery?”

Six months later we have an outbreak of Coronavirus which is being blamed on the Leicester garment factories operated on behalf of Boohoo, Nasty Girl and Pretty Little Thing. The government was warned, yet it is only yesterday that Alok Sharma, the current business secretary, told Times Radio “The fact that this has come to light I think means that we will be able to look into this and I’m quite sure that if there have been breaches they will be dealt with.” What happened at the meeting months ago?

The Labour Behind the Label campaign has a report out alleging there is evidence which indicates that conditions in Leicester’s factories, primarily producing for Boohoo, are putting workers at risk of COVID-19 infection. Grim reading…