Over the last couple of days I have written about the call for MPs to focus on Anti-Modern Slavery and a focus on the 18th October as a day to raise this. The call emerged from our Arundel and Brighton Diocese and indeed their comment included these following words

“Modern slavery is happening here and now on our doorsteps in leafy Surrey and Sussex. In fact, the South East of England is the second largest area for slavery crime in the UK after London.”

Sadly there does not appear to have been any comments from any MPs yesterday, however we can endorse the responses from some of the MPs who have spoken about it in previous years and we can then call on our current MPs to pick it up this week. Along with the MPs there is also the prospect for members of the House of Lords and indeed one of them was speaking a couple of months ago. Lord Alton of Liverpool was previously a MP for Liverpool for the Liberal Democrat Party and he is now a Crossbench member. Back on the 18th July he stated amongst other elements on the theme of the Procurement Bill

I shall speak to Amendments 331 and 353. Amendment 331 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, and the noble Lords, Lord Coaker, Lord Bethell and Lord Fox, deals with serious human rights abuses. When the Minister responds I hope he will bear in mind the very helpful conversations he and I had when he agreed to meet me to discuss modern-day slavery and genocide. I should mention that I am a trustee of the anti-modern-day-slavery charity the Arise Foundation and a patron of Coalition for Genocide Response.

Previously here are two more references. Rachel Maclean who is the MP for Redditch and Victoria Atkins who is the MP for Louth of Horncastle are both members of the Conservative Party and they have focused on it in recent years on behalf of the Government. A year ago on the 18th October 2021 Rachel began with these words as part of a much longer statement

Modern slavery is an abhorrent crime. Tens of millions of victims around the world are coerced, deceived, and forced into a life of abuse, servitude, and inhumane treatment. This happens in the UK as well; to British citizens and to those trafficked from abroad. Today, on the UK’s Anti-Slavery Day, we pause to reflect on the trauma that victims suffer, the cruelty of those that exploit them and the bravery of survivors attempting to rebuild their lives. This Government are committed to eradicating modern slavery. 

A year earlier Victoria was speaking in late September and she began with these words

Today, the Government have published their response to the transparency in supply consultation. A copy of the Government response will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and it will also be published on gov.uk. The landmark transparency provisions in the Modern Slavery Act 2015 established the UK as the first country in the world to require businesses to report annually on their work to prevent and address risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. This legislation was introduced to empower investors, consumers and civil society to hold businesses to account, and it has since sparked an international trend for supply chains legislation. I am proud that thousands of businesses have risen to the challenge of reporting and consistently raised the benchmark for transparency since the Act came into force. 

If we go back a bit further there was previously an Early Day Motion which Frank Field established back on 28th February 2018. The text for the EDM was as follows and indeed there were a total of 85 MPs who endorsed it. They included here in Sussex as Peter Bottomley, Caroline Lucas and Lloyd Russell-Moyle. There were many other significant MPs who endorsed that EDM. It would be fantastic if the focus onto Modern Slavery will get raised again this week by MPs including potentially these people. Here is the EDM document text.

That this House notes the lack of long-term support offered to victims of modern slavery; recognises the risk of victims being re-trafficked if they do not have a secure pathway to adequate levels of support, including a period of leave to remain; regrets the missed opportunities to convict more perpetrators of modern slavery crimes because victims’ personal circumstances leave them unable to engage with law enforcement agencies; and calls on the Government to provide victims of modern slavery with the option of 12 months’ support and assistance including leave to remain following a positive conclusive grounds decision.