Priti Patel is believed to be considering new laws on modern slavery in light of new revelations about illegal working conditions at fast fashion suppliers, citing concerns that existing legislation is not fit for purpose.

According to The Sunday Times, the Home Secretary reportedly believes that cultural sensitivities are preventing police and councils from confronting illegal sweatshops for fears of being labelled racist.

Fashion company Boohoo has appointed Alison Levitt QC to lead an independent review into allegations that their factories were paying staff below minimum wage and not complying with safety rules.

Its board was said to be shocked and appalled by the allegations.

The move follows an undercover investigation by The Times last week that revealed workers in a Leicester factory were being paid as little as 3.50 per hour.

Shares in Boohoo, which also owns fast-fashion brands Nasty Gal and PrettyLittleThing, plummeted nearly 40 per cent following the report, while Asos, Next and Zalando all dropped the fast-fashion brand from sale.

Poor working conditions are reported to be widespread for textile industry employees, who are largely of Asian descent.

Raj Mann, the police contact for Leicesters Sikhs, said some factory owners were cliquish and shared information about cheap workers and approaching raids and inspections.

The local authorities have known these sweatshops exist for decades but theyve been loath to do anything about it for fear of being accused of picking on immigrant or refugee communities, as a lot of the exploited workers are of Indian background, he said.

Within the Asian community people generally turn a blind eye to workers in the community who are on less than the minimum wage. They see it as being better than earning nothing at all.

Sara Thornton, the independent anti-slavery commissioner, said financial challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic make workers more susceptible to exploitation.

As people have lost their jobs, they are increasingly desperate and will take exploitative work because at that point its the most rational option for them.

On the other side is that if employers are feeling desperate about getting their businesses back on track, they might also feel that they want to cut corners, she said.

At the moment the home secretary can injunct a company and require them to make a modern slavery statement. Thats never happened in five years but thats as powerful as it ever gets at the moment and I think it should be more.

Additional reporting by Press Association

Continued here:

Modern slavery laws could be updated to tackle 'sweatshops' amid Boohoo allegations - iNews