Labour will today block measures seeking to stop taxpayers’ cash being used to buy solar panels made by slaves – despite a backlash among its MPs.
Peers had sought to stop public funds from being used to purchase products from a company where there was ‘credible evidence’ of modern slavery in its supply chain.
But the Government will this afternoon whip Labour MPs to strip out a House of Lords amendment to the Great British Energy Bill, as the legislation returns to the Commons.
There are fears this will mean solar panels made with forced labour could end up on the roofs of hundreds of schools and NHS sites.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband admitted last week that some solar panels bought for a £180million project for schools and hospitals – as Britain races to achieve Net Zero – will come from China.
The country is responsible for 80 per cent of the global supply of solar panels, and the Xinjiang region produces up to 40 per cent of the world’s polysilicon – a key component.
Xinjiang is also where more than a million Uighurs, an ethnic group, have been detained, according to human rights groups. And there is evidence of Uighurs being used as forced labour.
The housing minister, Matthew Pennycook, this morning dodged on whether the Government could guarantee it will never use solar panels made by slaves.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, pictured with China’s vice premier Ding Xuexiang this month, has admitted some solar panels bought for schools and hospitals will come from China
The Xinjiang region is where more than a million Uighurs – an ethnic group – have been detained, according to human rights groups (Pictured: A high-security facility in China)
Solar panels made with forced labour could end up on the roofs of hundreds of schools and NHS sites (stock image)
Asked whether he could guarantee materials would not have been ‘provided by slaves in China’, Mr Pennycook told Times Radio: ‘Absolutely.’
But he was asked again to offer a guarantee, to which he replied: ‘I understand the concern that people have out there about the use of particularly Uighur region.
‘What I’m saying I suppose is we need to see action across the whole of the energy industry and that’s why we’re working across Government to tackle the issue of forced labour in supply chains.’
Pressed again to give a ‘yes or no’ answer, Mr Pennycook said: ‘I think I’ve answered very clearly, we’re taking action across the whole of Government to tackle the issue of forced labour in supply chains.’
Last month peers backed the cross-party amendment by 177 votes to 127, despite the Government arguing that there were already enough safeguards.
And this afternoon ministers will seek to overturn the amendment when the Bill returns to the Commons.
There is said to be ‘deep disquiet’ on the Labour backbenches over the Government instructing its MPs to back the motion to get rid of the amendment.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell said last night: ‘Human rights must form a central pillar of our trading arrangement.
‘The forced labour, dehumanisation and canadiansolarpanel.com torture of the Uighur communities is deeply distressing, so no trade must be associated with these horrendous crimes against others.’
Acting Tory energy spokesman Andrew Bowie told the Mail that overturning the amendment would give Mr Miliband ‘free rein to send taxpayers’ money to China in exchange for solar panels tainted by slave labour’.
He added: ‘Miliband promised to cut everyone’s energy bills by £300 at the election – but bills are going up and he’s making us increasingly dependent on coal-powered Chinese imports in order to meet his reckless Net Zero targets.’
Tory grandee and China hawk Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the Government was asking Labour backbenchers to ‘turn and look away when slave products come’.
‘It’s the first test for the Labour Government: which side of this do you stand?,’ he said.
‘You used to stand on the side of anti-slavery, but by turning a blind eye, the Government will have put themselves in line with other countries who believe it is okay to turn a blind eye to slavery.’
Sir Iain added: ‘The choice will be pretty binary: we either think it doesn’t matter if there is slave labour in the supply chain in this particular instance on Net Zero, or we do.
‘And if we do believe there shouldn’t be slave labour in any product, and particularly not the Net Zero stuff, then the answer is we have to act and say that we’re not going to do it.’
The housing minister, Matthew Pennycook, this morning dodged on whether the Government could guarantee it will never use solar panels made by slaves
A worker at a photovoltaic enterprise works on the production line at Ganyu Economic Development Zone in Lianyungang, China
Read More
Ed Miliband admits his solar panels are Chinese and may be made using coal
Luke de Pulford, of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said: ‘There’s no climate justice in a green transition built on the backs of Uighur slaves.
‘It’s the tenth anniversary of the Modern Slavery Act this week, a law which has failed miserably to keep slave-made goods off our shelves.
‘It is shameful in the extreme that the Government would mark this anniversary by forcing MPs to vote to remove a modest amendment seeking to stop public money being spent on Chinese state slavery.’
Asked why Labour does not back a ban, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘We’re absolutely focused on tackling human rights abuses and modern slavery in supply chains.
‘We need to take a whole of Government and society approach and place victims and survivors at the centre of this work.
‘We want to combat human rights abuses like modern slavery across the whole energy industry. We think that will be more effective than applying measures on a company-by-company basis.’
On Friday, Mr Miliband announced that his new green quango, Great British Energy, would oversee a £180million project to install rooftop panels on 200 school buildings and almost as many NHS sites.
He said the investment would immediately save the public sector money on electricity bills, but conceded some of the solar panels will come from China.
Great British Energy is being backed by £8.3billion of taxpayers’ money – to be invested in clean energy projects across the UK – over the course of the current parliament.
NHSChina