Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that cotton produced in Xinjiang province through the forced labour of Uyghur Muslims does not enter the UK supply chain.

HM Government has announced a number of measures to help make sure that no British organisation is complicit, through their supply chains, in the violation of rights and responsibilities occurring in Xinjiang.

The United Kingdom has taken a leading international role in holding China to account for such violations, including helping to secure the support of 43 countries for a joint statement at the UN in October that called on China to allow “immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent observers.”

We are committed to ongoing discussions on cotton and trade related matters at the WTO too, and recognise the importance of reform to the global cotton market, which will benefit the most vulnerable in particular.