government<\/a> needed to determine who is responsible for preventing the import of tainted goods and what happens if they are confiscated.<\/p>\n\u201cThe UK\u2019s lack of equivalent legislation puts the UK at risk of becoming a dumping ground for goods that cannot be sold elsewhere,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
But experts warn that even if ministers put these in place, due diligence is not a guarantee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ability of UK companies to actually do due diligence and to police this is basically non-existent, which is why you’re seeing this approach taken in the US,\u201d Evan Fowler of IPAC, told The Independent.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only has Beijing stopped publishing data that had previously been used by researchers to build a picture of what is happening, but the forced labour programme has likely been expanded,\u201d Mr Fowler added, referencing a scheme which moves tens of thousands of people from Xinjiang to work in eastern factories.<\/p>\n
The report comes after a BBC investigation found 17 tomato products sold in UK supermarkets were likely made from tomatoes grown and picked in Xinjiang fields with forced labour. The supermarkets contested the findings.<\/p>\n
About a third of the world\u2019s tomatoes are grown in China and Xinjiang has the perfect climate for them.<\/p>\n
1\/3<\/p>\n
world\u2019s tomatoes grown in China<\/p>\n
\u201cCargo flights are permitted to bring goods directly from the capital of Xinjiang to the UK unhindered,\u201d the JCHR said.<\/p>\n
Concerns have also been raised over base materials used to make solar panels imported into the UK – metallurgical grade silicon (MGS) and polysilicon.<\/p>\n
Xinjiang accounts for about 35 percent of the world\u2019s polysilicon and 32 percent of the world\u2019s MGS, according to a 2023 report on the Uyghur region and solar panels.<\/p>\n
In April the government passed an amendment to the Great British Energy Bill to ban forced labour in its supply chains – which drew similar criticism for its lack of due diligence or penalties. <\/p>\n
35<\/p>\n
percent world\u2019s polysilicon made in Xinjiang<\/p>\n
It was also criticised for not covering private solar farms, who are eligible for generous state subsidies through Contracts For Difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government seems to turn a blind eye to slave labour,\u201d Sir Iain told The Independent.<\/p>\n
However, tracing products back to their true origin is often complicated by a lack of transparency from producers. <\/p>\n
Firms often split their supply between countries to claim tainted products go elsewhere or choose not to disclose where parts were sourced. <\/p>\n
Some constituents who ask where solar panels are sourced are falsely told they are made in Germany, Sir Iain told The Independent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, they’re not made in Germany. It’s just that the company producing them, they have a middle man. So that disguises where they came from. They never declare that they came from China.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Xinjiang](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/iStock-637931824.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
open image in gallery<\/p>\n
Xinjiang has the perfect climate for tomatoes (Getty)<\/p>\n
China also increasingly frames due diligence as a national security threat, experts say. <\/p>\n
\u201cChina is broadening the scope of what it considers to be national security sensitive when it comes to due diligence,\u201d Andrew Yeh, Executive Director of the China Strategic Risks Institute, told The Independent. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo anyone who is trying to trace which companies are involved or whether their supply chains are linked or not, are potentially crossing the Chinese government’s red lines when it comes to how it thinks and defines national security.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s Government has sought to balance a revival of relations with Beijing in its pursuit of growth with matters of national security amid concerns about Chinese interference in Britain and human rights concerns.<\/p>\n
China has denied accusations it is subjecting the Uyghur minority to forced labour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-286610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-northern-ireland","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114905524727926778","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"File:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Congress_Green_Energy_Cuts__88399.jpg\")
<\/p>\n