Member

While the Secretary of State agonises and, presumably, beats himself up, he can be sure that Xi Jinping is losing no sleep over targets or the use of slave labour to achieve his objectives. His regime has become the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world: 15 billion tonnes of carbon a year. China uses coal to power heavy industry and to export steel and cars, which we once produced in the UK, in the workshop of the world. British labour will never be able to compete with slave labour or industries that are heavily dependent on cheaper and dirtier energy. The UK should be tooling up, creating British jobs and, with our allies, seeking alternatives to supply chains dependent on Uighur slave labour. Procurement should strengthen national resilience. It should reduce dependency on states which pose a risk to our national security. It should protect British manufacturing from competitors that use slave labour, or grossly exploited labour.