Austria's far-right secures first win in national election since WWII

Austria's Freedom Party, led by Herbert Kickl, won the election with around 29% vote.



Reuters

Head of Freedom Party Herbert Kickl gestures, as vote projections show that FPOe won the general election, in Vienna / Photo: Reuters

Political parties on the European right have celebrated the parliamentary election victory by Austria's Freedom Party (FPO) as a boost for national conservatives amid advances by the hard right fuelled by worries about immigration. It's the first far-right national parliamentary election victory in post-World War II Austria

Led by Herbert Kickl, who capitalised on a misfiring economy and concerns that Austria has taken in people faster than it can integrate them, the FPO won around 29 percent of the vote, a record result that may give it a platform to lead the next government.

Kickl must find a partner to form a stable coalition, and he is loathed by other party leaders, who have refused to serve under him and quickly began discussing the possibility of sounding out alternatives to an FPO-led government.

The far-right has benefited from frustration over high inflation, the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic. It has also built on worries about migration.

About 300 protesters gathered outside the parliament building in Vienna on Sunday evening, holding placards with slogans including "Kickl is a Nazi."



European right-wing celebration

There were warm words from allies in Europe, where the FPO forms part of a right-wing group inside the European Parliament led by France's far-right National Rally (RN).

Its leader, Marine Le Pen, expressed delight at the victory and said it showed those parties were advancing.

"After the Italian, Dutch and French elections, this tidal wave which supports the defence of national interests, the safeguarding of identities and the resurrection of sovereignties, confirms the triumph of the people everywhere," Le Pen wrote in a post on X.

Bjoern Hoecke, one of the leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), called the FPO's win a "sensation" and said on X: "The FPO victory isn't just a victory for Austria - it extends far beyond the borders of the Alpine republic and is a good sign of progress for Europe."

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Facebook: "What a weekend!! After the Czech Republic, another victory for the Patriots across the border... No war, no migration and no gender propaganda!"

Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders, whose PVV party leads the Dutch government, responded to the FPO victory on X by saying: "We are winning! Times are changing! Identity, sovereignty, freedom and no more illegal immigration/asylum is what tens of millions of Europeans long for!"

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of the co-ruling League party said in a statement the Austrian vote was "a historic day in the name of change."

"To those who speak of the 'extreme right', let us remind them that in Vienna (as in almost all of Europe), there is only the desire for change by putting the values of work, family and security back at the centre," he added.

Ukraine in balance

The win by the Eurosceptic FPO could sow division within the European Union over foreign policy areas, such as support for Ukraine.

Kickl opposes sending aid to Kiev, and critics of the RN and other parties in the right-wing Patriots for Europe group, the third-largest in the European Parliament, often argue they have been too soft on Moscow.

The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia.

Austria far-right supporters toast historic victory

By AFP
September 29, 2024

Blaise GAUQUELIN

As jubilant Austrian far-right supporters celebrated their party’s historic win in Sunday’s national elections with beers, they knew forming a government would not be easy.

“It’s a real success… (but) I predict that no matter who forms the government, we will certainly not have one before Christmas,” Erik Berglund, a 35-year-old waiter, told AFP.

Led by sharp-tongued Herbert Kickl since 2021, the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) had been tipped to narrowly beat the ruling conservatives but Sunday’s results — with the party getting around 29 percent — were even slightly better than expected.

Like other party supporters around him in traditional Austrian dress, Berglund credited Kickl the “most competent leader”.

But he said it would now be up to the other parties to decide if the FPOe head can become chancellor.

“It will certainly be a very, very exciting time,” he added as electric blue light — the FPOe colour — illuminated the restaurant in downtown Vienna where the party was celebrating.

Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) celebrates its win in downtown Vienna - Copyright APA/AFP ROLAND SCHLAGER

– ‘Mountain climber’ –

Chancellor Karl Nehammer, whose conservatives came second in the elections, has already said he would not form a coalition government with Kickl. Other party leaders have also rejected him.

“I am a mountain climber, but the bag that I have been given is not light,” the sporty Kickl told his cheering supporters.

As supporters watched the vote night unfold on private television rather than public broadcaster ORF, which the FPOe has accused of being biased, they booed whenever other parties’ representatives appeared onscreen.

Hilmar Kabas, an FPOe member since the 1960s, said other parties’ “weakness” was the main reason that propelled the far right to victory.

But supporters wearing “Team Kickl” parkas also rattle off other reasons, such as asylum seeker applications deemed too many, a slumping economy and the high cost of living that has seen far-right parties across Europe gain ground.

But if no one is willing to form a coalition under Kickl, it’s better to stay in the opposition, Kabas said.

“It is not the other parties that decide for us,” he added.

– ‘Beacon in our night’ –

A loden-clothed activist from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was also among the crowd, having come specially from Bavaria state in neighbouring Germany to celebrate with his “friends”.

“Germany is looking toward Vienna tonight,” he said, declining to give his name.

With him, he brought a gift for Kickl: a small blue lighthouse engraved with his name because “he is a beacon in our night”.

Outgoing lawmaker Petra Steger said President Alexander Van der Bellen must now give the mandate to Kickl to form a government “respecting the voters”.

“That’s how it works in a democracy,” she said.

Having expressed reservations about Kickl a few months ago, Van der Bellen promised after the results were announced he would make sure a government is formed that respects the “foundations of our liberal democracy”.

Not far from the FPOe celebration, in front of parliament, a few hundred people gathered to say “no to Kickl”, leader of a party formed by former Nazis.

“Nazis out”, they chanted.

“Unfortunately, it was to be expected that the FPOe would be in the lead, but it is quite sad (to have this result), because somehow we have learned nothing from history,” Juliana Hofmann, a 19-year-old student, told AFP.

Austria's rightward shift puts immigration in crosshairs

September 30, 2024 
By Reuters

Head of Freedom Party (FPO) Herbert Kickl celebrates, as vote projections show the party won the general election, in Vienna, Austria, Sept. 29, 2024.

VIENNA —

Picknicking with friends in the park after prayers at a Vienna mosque, Saima Arab, a 20-year-old pedicurist originally from Afghanistan, is thankful for her freedoms in Austria.

"We could never do this in Afghanistan, never cook, go out, just sit in public like this," said Arab, who came to Austria in 2017. "Home is like a prison there."

Many Austrians, however, are worried about their country's ability to integrate migrants, especially Muslims, and their desire for stricter immigration laws was a key issue in Sunday's election which gave victory to the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) for the first time.

Both the FPO and the runner-up, the ruling conservative Austrian People's Party (OVP), ran on pledges to tighten asylum laws and crack down on illegal immigration.

The FPO victory added to critics' concerns about the rise of the far right in Europe after electoral gains in recent months by the Alternative for Germany and the National Rally in France.

"Whatever the government looks like after the election, I'm certain it'll work towards toughening up asylum and immigration law," Professor Walter Obwexer, an adviser to the government on migration law, said before the vote.

Arab, who also spoke to Reuters in an interview conducted before the election, said she did not like to talk about politics but hoped she too would vote in Austria one day.

The number of people in Austria born abroad or whose parents were jumped by more than a third between 2015 and last year, and now account for around 27% of the population of about 9 million.

Together the FPO and the OVP won over 55% of the vote and one of the two is almost certain to lead the next government, feeding expectations that Austria, like neighboring Germany and Hungary, and France, will adopt tougher rules.

Opinion polls showed immigration and inflation were key voter concerns. Such is the worry that Austria is taking in migrants faster than it can integrate them that even some Austrians of Muslim origin feel Austria is stretched.

"I wonder if the system is close to collapse," said Mehmet Ozay, a Turkish-born Austrian FPO supporter, arguing there were too many asylum seekers not contributing to state coffers.

Taylor Swift concert

The FPO has combined its tough talk on immigration with criticism of Islam.

The issue took center stage last month when police arrested a teenager with North Macedonian roots on suspicion of masterminding a failed Islamic State-inspired attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna.

Running on the campaign slogan "Fortress Austria," the FPO promoted "remigration," including returning asylum seekers to their countries of origin, especially if they fail to integrate, and limiting asylum rights.

That has unsettled some who feel the party, which dropped some of its more polarizing slogans in the campaign, is demonizing foreigners.

The FPO, which did not reply to a request for comment, denies this. It says asylum seekers are a drain on state resources, and draws attention to crimes some of them commit.

"The FPO routinely talk about refugees and asylum seekers as rapists and thieves and drug dealers," said Hedy, a social worker and Austrian citizen who arrived as a refugee from Afghanistan. He declined to give his last name.

"Something very similar happened to the Jews in Vienna before the Second World War," he said, adding that the FPO, which wants to ban "political Islam," would embolden xenophobes.

The FPO, whose first leader was a former Nazi lawmaker, has sought to distance itself from its past, and in 2019 helped pass a law allowing foreign descendants of Austrian victims of National Socialism to acquire Austrian citizenship.

This month FPO leader Herbert Kickl called Adolf Hitler the "biggest mass murderer in human history," as he roundly denounced the Nazi dictator's legacy in a television debate.

Still, Alon Ishay, head of the Austrian Association of Jewish Students, said he saw some parallels between targeting of Jews in the early Nazi era and attitudes to Muslims now.

"There are rhetorical similarities when you talk about deportation, when you talk about taking people's citizenship away," he said, also speaking before Sunday's election.

FPO-backer Ozay disagreed, saying that Muslims such as himself were free to do as they liked in Austria.

"If there were daily attacks by FPO voters I would understand the fear that things would get even more extreme if Kickl came to power," he said. "But that's not how it is. It's just fear stirred up by the other parties."

FPÖ wins big in Austrian elections – but “kingmaker” Conservatives lean towards the left

Chris Gattringer
30 September 2024

BRUSSELS SIGNAL

The Freedom Party (FPÖ) scored a momentous and better-than-expected win in Austria’s September 29 elections. At 9 pm – with 97 per cent of votes counted – the right-wing FPÖ party under its leader Herbert Kickl led other parties with 29 per cent of the vote, a 13 percentage-point improvement over its performance in the previous 2019 elections.

It was a better result for the FPÖ than the last pre-elections polls predicted, which suggested a tie for first place between Kickl’s party and the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP). In the event, the FPÖ pulled ahead of the ÖVP by 2.5 percentage points.

The Conservatives emerged as the election’s clear loser, in the worst result for the ÖVP since 2013.

Karl Nehammer’s party lost 11 percentage points compared with 2019. Its 26 per cent share of the vote was the party’s lowest in 11 years.

The days now seemed a distant memory when the ÖVP trounced other parties with 37 per cent of the vote in 2019, under the party’s young leader Sebastian Kurz.

Kurz was subsequently forced to resign as Austrian chancellor in 2021 due to a perjury lawsuit, replaced by the much less charismatic party soldier Nehammer.

The Greens, the ÖVP’s coalition partner for the last five years, were the day’s other big loser.

Werner Kogler’s party dropped from 14 per cent of the vote in 2019 to only eight per cent, despite heavy support from much of the Austrian press.

The Social Democrats, with an expected 21 per cent of the vote, scored their worst result in a general election since the Second World War.

This was even worse than their previous worst postwar showing in 2019. Their relatively new chairman Andreas Babler, a self-declared “Marxist”, ran on a programme matching his self-description.

The left-leaning liberal Neos party did not capitalise on dissatisfaction with the government either, gaining only a single percentage point to win nine per cent of the vote.

A spate of predominantly left-wing fringe parties failed to surpass the four per cent minimum showing to secure parliamentary representation.

Barring last-minute surprises, there were two main options for a two-party coalition to secure a majority in the Austrian parliament’s lower house, the National Council.

FPÖ and ÖVP together would have a comfortable 108-seat majority in the 183-seats chamber.

Together with Neos they would even have enjoy two-thirds supermajority, allowing them to amend Austria’s constitution.

This would permit the new government to push through much-needed reforms such as a federal debt limit, or abolishing constitutionally forced membership in the Chamber of Commerce (for employers) and the Chamber of Workers (for employees).

However, dreams of a three-member reform coalition appear premature.

The sole remaining option for a two-party coalition is a government consisting of the ÖVP and the Social Democrats (SPÖ), though this would only have a thin majority of one seat.

Still, some ÖVP representatives have shown a clear preference for this coalition—which before the election was dubbed a “coalition of the losers”.

Before the vote the ÖVP ruled out a coalition with the FPÖ if the government included Herbert Kickl, accusing him of “radicalisation” and “right-wing extremism”.

However, after scoring a landslide win for his party it is unlikely Kickl would be replaced against his will.

It remained to be seen if the Conservatives’ election loss leads to a change of mind. The ÖVP’s leader, Nehammer, called the result “bitter” in his initial reaction, and did not want to speculate about possible coalitions.

All parties other than the ÖVP have ruled out entering into a coalition with the FPÖ.

On Sunday evening, Herbert Kickl told other party leaders: “Our hand is outstretched. I am ready for talks with each and every one of you”.

Austria now faced a difficult and potentially long phase of party talks before a future coalition government emerged.

Some commentators expected the ÖVP to drag coalition talks well into November until after regional elections in two states.

Also, a coalition between the ÖVP and SPÖ might drive even more dissatisfied conservative voters towards Kickl’s Freedom Party.

 

'Cocoa crisis' to push chocolate prices even higher


By Adam Vidler

 Sep 30, 2024

CHANNEL9

A "cocoa crisis" is likely to push chocolate prices higher around the world, a new report by Rabobank has found.

The food and agribusiness banking specialist found that "significantly higher" chocolate prices would hit shelves over coming months and into 2025.

Cocoa commodity prices have hit their highest levels in nearly 50 years, hitting nearly US$12,000 a ton ($17,347 a ton) in the first half of this year, according to RaboResearch analyst Paul Joules.

Chocolate prices are set to rise around the world. (Getty)

"This dramatic increase, fuelled by a global cocoa shortage, is primarily due to a disappointing harvest in West Africa, the source of 70 per cent of the world's cocoa," Joules said.

"The International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) reports a 14.2 per cent drop in global cocoa production for the 2023-24 season, leading to a shortage of approximately 462,000 metric tons and the lowest cocoa stocks in 22 years."

The full impact is yet to make its way to the supermarket shelves, despite retail prices already rising.

A very poor cocoa harvest in West Africa is being blamed for price hikes. (File)

"Due to the lag in the supply chain and existing contracts, the steepest price hikes are anticipated in the second half of 2024 and into 2025," Joules said.

"This would inevitably lead to higher prices for consumers, particularly for dark chocolates with higher cocoa content."

To combat rising costs, Joules said, chocolate manufacturers across the globe were adopting various strategies.

"These include 'shrinkflation', which is reducing package sizes while maintaining prices, and 'skimpflation', which is altering recipes to use less cocoa and more fillers," he said.
"These tactics, while effective, are often unpopular with consumers."

And shoppers are likely to have to alter their buying habits in response.

"The increased cost of chocolate is expected to lead to a significant drop in consumer demand. This market correction should balance the cocoa supply shortage and stabilise prices," Joules said.

"For the western European market, a decline in chocolate volumes in the mid-to-high-single digits is projected, with this becoming more apparent in 2025."

He said there was already a "structural" shift away from sweets consumption, with a significant decline in volume sales in recent years.

"The current crisis adds to the challenges, making a return to significant growth unlikely in the near future," he said.

 

Fire at Atlanta chemical plant forces evacuations

TEHRAN, Sep. 29 (MNA) – A fire broke out at a chemical plant just east of Atlanta on Sunday, prompting officials to ask residents in the area to evacuate.

At around 5 a.m., a sprinkler head malfunctioned at the BioLab plant in Conyers, “causing a mixture with a water reactive chemical,” Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said, according to NBC News.

“There was a small fire on the roof, which has been contained, but at that time, right now, there are no other issues,” McDaniel said.

The fire department is working on removing the material from the building and the water source, McDaniel said at a press conference Sunday.

Officials did not say what kind of chemical was released, but advised people to shelter in place and said the situation could change quickly.

“We’ll tell people to shelter in place, keep your doors and windows closed,” McDaniel said. “Any event, the wind shift, this thing can change really quickly. But once again, shelter in place, windows and doors closed.”

Rockdale County officials told residents living between Sigman Road and Interstate 20 to evacuate Sunday morning. Those living north of Sigman Road were advised to shelter in place. Churches in the area were advised to cancel services.

It’s not clear if there are any injuries at the time when this report was being published.

MNA/PR

What do scientists think of Boris Johnson’s claims Covid was ‘made in a lab’?

Laura Brick and Jen Mills

METRO UK

Published Sep 29, 2024

Exactly what led to the Covid-19 pandemic is still a big source of debate

 (Picture: Getty)

Boris Johnson has revealed that he now believes that the Covid pandemic was the result of a leak from a Chinese laboratory.

This is a break from his position as Prime Minister, when he said that more than seven million people died worldwide because the virus ‘jumped species’.

Animal-to-human transmission in a Wuhan wildlife market remains the theory backed by many scientists, including in a landmark study earlier this month when researchers tested genetic samples of animals that were sold there early in the pandemic and found traces of the Covid virus in some species.

But in bombshell remarks in his new memoir Unleashed, Mr Johnson claimed: ‘The awful thing about the whole Covid catastrophe is that it appears to have been entirely man-made, in all its aspects.

‘It now oks overwhelmingly likely that the mutation was the result of some botched experiment in a Chinese lab.

‘Some scientists were clearly splicing bits of virus together like the witches in Macbeth – eye of bat and toe of frog – and oops, the frisky little critter jumped out of the test tube and started replicating all over the world.’

The former Prime Minister has become the first world leader since Donald Trump to make the claim that the pandemic was the result of a leak from a lab (Picture: AFP)

Mr Johnson is the most high profile world leader since Donald Trump to publicly reject the notion that the virus was transmitted to humans from infected animals.

However a major international study published earlier this month backs the theory that the virus started in a wet market in Wuhan, rather than the market merely amplifying the spread as a super-spreader event.

Researchers tested genetic samples of animals that were sold in Wuhan market stalls and found traces of the Covid virus in some species from early 2020.

They argue that this is the first time scientists have pinpointed the animals that may have been responsible for transmission to humans.

‘This adds another layer to the accumulating evidence that all points to the same scenario: that infected animals were introduced into the market in mid-to late November 2019, which sparked the pandemic,’ said author of the study Kristian Andersen from Scripps Research.

Former PM Mr Johnson had previously linked the pandemic to what he called the ‘demented’ belief in parts of Asia that ‘if you grind up the scales of a pangolin you will somehow become more potent’ – although he had gradually become more sceptical as information emerged about the experiments being conducted by Wuhan scientists.

Anaesthesiologist Caroline Borkett-Jones leads a team in turning a COVID-19 patient at the Royal Free Hospital on June 8, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Picture: Lynsey Addario/Getty Images)

The director of America’s FBI has said that Covid-19 most likely’ originated in a Chinese government-controlled lab.

In 2023 Christopher Wray told Fox News: ‘The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident.’

A joint China-World Health Organization (WHO) investigation in 2021 called the lab leak theory ‘extremely unlikely.’

However, the WHO investigation was highly criticised and its director-general has since called for a new inquiry, saying: ‘All hypotheses remain open and require further study.’

In April 2020, at the start of the first UK-wide lockdown, The Mail on Sunday became the first mainstream media outlet to reveal fears that the virus had leaked from a laboratory in China

A member of Cobra, the Government’s secret emergency committee, told the newspaper that Ministers were studying intelligence about an accident at Wuhan’s Institute of Virology, where scientists were carrying out high-risk experiments to manipulate coronaviruses – sampled from bats in caves nearly 1,000 miles away – to make them more transmissible.

The FBI has claimed it was ‘most likely’ that the virus was the result of a lab leak (Picture: Getty Images)

The official line remained that the virus had been passed on at an animal market in Wuhan, despite DNA analysis of Covid-19 tracing it to bats found only in distant caves.

The authors of this month’s latest study into the origins of the virus suggested that the raccoon dog, a fox-like animal common in East Asia, could have been a major carrier of the virus.

Other animals such as masked palm civets, hoary bamboo rats and Malayan porcupines were also found to be carrying Covid-19 at the wet market before the disease was widespread in humans.

This is not a definitive list as many of the key animal species were cleared out from the market before the Chinese health team arrived, said Florence Débarre of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, who led the study.

Writing on Twitter, she said that ‘a lab leak is a possibility that deserves consideration and has. No one will tell you differently.’

But she said ‘current versions of the lab leak are conspiracy theories’, for instance the claim that the authors of her study ‘believe in a leak in private but have conspired to hide the truth since 2020 under Fauci’s pressure’.

This claim ‘IS an insane conspiracy theory. I hope this helps,’ she said.

UK

Students and staff pay the price for university funding crisis

The Guardian

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Sun 29 September 2024 


‘Massive public investment in higher education – perhaps Britain’s last world-leading sector – is the only sustainable solution.

’Photograph: Mark Waugh/Alamy

For more than 15 years, university students and staff have borne the brunt of a broken system. Tuition fees helped turn higher education into a quasi-market, transforming students into indebted consumers and staff into precarious workers. Lord Mandelson’s support for Britain’s universities is welcome, but it is unfortunate that he appears relaxed about making students and staff pay the price – yet again – for patching up the sector’s finances (Universities are in a hole: linking student fees to inflation is the fairest way forward, 25 September).

Not only does Mandelson suggest students are penalised with tuition fee hikes, he takes aim at the student-staff ratio, suggesting it is much too low. This is hard to interpret as anything other than a call for job cuts, which Mandelson frames in the cynical phrase of the hour as “tough choices”.

The truth is that to raise tuition fees would be to double down on the unstable market-led model that has landed universities in this mess. Massive public investment in higher education – perhaps Britain’s last world-leading sector – is the only sustainable solution. That would require real “tough choices”, such as facing down Treasury-think and taxing the rich.
Dr Jo Grady
General secretary, University and College Union

• Linking fees to inflation may assist our universities in their financial upkeep, as Peter Mandelson argues. But students are paying exorbitant interest on their loans. My daughter’s interest rate (she is in her third year at university) rocketed from 8% to 13.5% in one leap and interest is accrued from the date the loan is made, not from graduation.

Before we embark on a course of action that will see student indebtedness rocket further, it would be prudent to legislate a fairer rate of interest on the tens of thousands borrowed by so many young people embarking on adult life and struggling to make their way in a relatively low-wage, high‑cost economy.
Nicola Gabb
Antrim

• I have been a senior lecturer in law for 20 years, many of which were at Manchester Metropolitan University. Lord Mandelson’s suggestion that the tutor-student ratio is increased is sensible, as long as tutors are able to devote their time to academic work. But the reality is that drastic cuts, labelled as “centralising or reorganisation” of support systems, mean lecturers are charged with resolving administrative and systemic debacles.

The ability to prepare, teach and meaningfully engage with our students, which remains our purpose and joy, is curtailed and devalued. The financial rewards for the decision-makers in upper management, however, appear unaffected by the funding crisis that is given as the reason for increased workloads and job cuts.
Francoise Smith
Astley, Greater Manchester

• Lord Mandelson draws some curious conclusions about how teaching in universities should change. He sees higher staff-to-student ratios as a positive metric, implying larger seminars, and he recommends some universities abandon research. I would be surprised if my students would welcome less contact with lecturers, and I know I’m a better researcher and tutor for pursuing my specialism in both domains. Lower standards won’t save UK higher education.
Richard Huzzey
Durham

The Vivisection Industrial Complex

Is animal research merely a pseudo-science for financial profit?

September 29, 2024

Source: Sul Nowroz 2024

Sixteen minutes into the webinar a photograph is shared. It is of a lone macaque monkey, light brown eyes staring into the camera. The monkey, known as RH2519, was born in 2004 at a New England (USA) so-called research facility affiliated to Harvard University. RH2519 gave birth to four infants, each of whom was taken from her before they were a year old. In 2010, RH2519 was moved to a second so-called research facility 1,200 miles away in the state of Wisconsin. There she gave birth to four more infants, all of whom were also forcibly removed.

Princess

RH2519’s suffering, loss and misery came to light after an undercover investigation. In addition to being caged all her life and having her offspring stolen, she was subjected to numerous violent and depraved ultrasound experiments. These so-called procedures frequently required table-top restraints to be used, and on occasions she was chemically restrained. She endured a string of physical ailments for most of her life. The investigator dignified RH2519 by giving her a name, Princess, and there was a campaign to free her. It failed – Princess was killed in December 2021.

“Princess wears her psychological distress on her body,” said PETA’s Vice President of Laboratories Investigations, Alka Chandna.

“Primatologists tell us non-human primates who exist in labs realise they have no control over their lives. No control over being caged, or when they are fed, or what they are fed. If they give birth, they can’t even control if they can keep their infants. The one thing they can control is the hair on their bodies, and as a measure of control over their lives, some resort to ripping it out.”

I look at the photograph again – now as evidence of the vicious and psychotic nature of animal-based research. Princess was caught up in the Vivisection Industrial Complex (VIC), and we owe it to her to tell her story.On the left a healthy macaque monkey, on the right Princess – Source: PETA

Camp Beagle and Eisenhower’s Warning

The webinar was hosted by Camp Beagle, Europe’s longest running animal protest camp. Since its establishment three years ago, the camp, often using drone footage, has exposed the cruel and inhumane practices of MBR Acres, a breeder of beagles for animal testing. To get a sense of the need for Camp Beagle’s exposé work you only have to watch some of its recent footage.

“We are small, but we are boots on the ground,” says camp guardian and veteran animal rights activist John Curtin. The boots on the ground have cost MBR a cool £4 million in court injunctions since the camp was set up, underscoring Curtin’s comment. Curtin and the other guardians are seasoned activists, they know the terrain well and repeatedly outsmart MBR.

MBR is part of a larger system primed on sadism and violence. More than 100 million animals are violated for so-called research worldwide each year, three million in the UK alone. And MBR? They breed 2,000 beagles annually. All are separated from their mothers in the first few weeks and kept in metal cages. Their only experience of daylight will be when they are transported, still only months old, to so-called testing laboratories. There, they will be brutalised before being killed.Source: Sul Nowroz 2024

It doesn’t have to be this way. Data tells us testing on animals doesn’t work. Ninety-five percent of all new drugs that are shown to be safe and effective in animal tests fail in human trials, ninety-three percent of experimental cancer drugs failed in the first phase of human clinical trials after testing ‘successfully’ on animals, approximately 100 HIV vaccines have been successful in animal experiments—and 100% of them failed to protect humans sufficiently. And potential stroke treatments fair no better. A recent study showed that ‘over 1,000 potential stroke treatments have been successful in animal tests, but of the approximately 10% that progressed to human trials, none worked sufficiently well in humans.’

So, why do we continue to torture animals in the name of research?

“It’s a Kafkaesque set up” says Curtin. He’s right. Despite the data and science telling us animal testing has little, if any, application for humans, a disorienting, complex and menacing web of bureaucracies prevail to maintain the lie and commit the crime in a senseless loop. It’s a popular model – institutions, academia, government bodies, and businesses collude to manufacture a socio-economic framing. The framing doesn’t have to be true – it just has to be convincing and, critically, create industrial-sized wealth amongst the conspirers.

The model, commonly referred to as the industrial complex, first entered the political vernacular in the 1960s when US President Eisenhower introduced us to the Military Industrial Complex. Eisenhower, a five-star general, worried about the nested relationships and murky intersections, and the top-down propaganda needed to keep the defence sector alive. Eisenhower realised the profit motive endangered sense and reason and risked corrupting the very purpose of the group. In his 1961 address, Eisenhower urged Americans to guard against ‘perpetual war’ because that’s what the Military Industrial Complex will inherently and systemically pursue. Between WWII and 2002 there have been 248 reported conflicts; the US has been involved in 201 of them. According to iAffairs, a Canadian research and publishing outlet, the US has dropped an average of forty-six bombs a day for the last twenty years.

The Vivisection Industrial Complex (VIC)

Source: World Animal Foundation

The vivisection sector shuns public attention and operates behind a series of opaque disclosures. From data that is available we can assume the vivisection industry is worth some £10 billion, although it is also assumed this is probably understated. To function, the industry requires a range of participants, including the supplier of the animals, shipping and logistics firms, the supplier of specialist equipment such as cages, restraints and surgical devices, real estate brokers and landlords, the “testing” laboratories, including universities and other academic institutions, the commissioning entities, often household brand names, and government departments and lobbying firms.

This syndicate operates in a topsy-turvy world few of us would recognise. Firstly, the correlation between human and animal research is non-existent: ‘Animal experiments don’t accurately mimic how the human body and human diseases respond to drugs, chemicals or treatments’ concludes the Humane Society. Even pro-business publication The Economist acknowledged in June of this year that only five percent of ‘therapies tested on animals are approved for human use,’ and yet the “research” continues.

Secondly, the overtly cruel nature of the so-called testing borders on the psychotic, and there is no motivation to minimise the suffering. On the contrary, most of the research undertaken at universities is often no more than curiosity led barbarism (Trigger warning: The link describes explicit animal cruelty).

Thirdly, the UK Animals Scientific Procedures Act (ASPA) exempts the Home Office, the regulatory oversight body, from releasing any material it holds in response to Freedom of Information requests. In fact, Section 24 of the Act, often referred to as the ‘Secrecy Clause’ prevents the Home Office from releasing any ‘information received in confidence, such as licensing assessments, application content, and inspector visit reports.’ A breach of section 24 can result in imprisonment.

An industry with no legitimacy, a business model incentivised on ‘throughput’ and whose inner dealings are cloaked in secrecy – Eisenhower’s warning is ringing loud.

“We need something seismic,” concludes Curtin. “Action is needed. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Rest, Fluids, Paracetamol … and the Unnecessary Death of a Princess

We owe it to Princess to tell her story, of how she became a victim of the Vivisection Industrial Complex, and how it killed her.

Source: PETA

The investigator who found Princess also sourced testimony that she was attacked by an incompatible macaque monkey months before her death. Confined to a small cage, she was ‘left bloodied and bruised, and sustained multiple, persistent injuries, including a bloody wound on her thigh, multiple scratches on her head and face, large lacerations at the base and tip of her tail, cuts on her hand, and bruises on her neck.’

In November 2021, Princess was forcibly impregnated by the Wisconsin National Primate Research Centre. She was effectively raped in the name of so-called science. Later that month she was infected with the Zika virus, commonly found in subtropical areas of Africa and South and Latin America. Zika virus can, on occasion, be harmful during pregnancy. A month later Princess was killed, and her foetus removed for examination. (Princess: 2004 – 2021. Born in captivity, died in captivity).

In 2023, there were 27,000 cases of Zika worldwide. Only one in five infected people exhibit any signs of illness. Hospitalisation is rare. The NHS’s recommended treatment for Zika virus is to get plenty of rest, drink lots of fluids, and take pain relief, such as paracetamol.

On January 17th 1961, Eisenhower gave his farewell address. He cautioned about the dangers of misplaced power and unwarranted influence before continuing: “holding scientific discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.”

Welcome to the Vivisection Industrial Complex.

©2024 – Sul Nowroz, Real Media staff writer

UK

AFTER GRENFELL


'Too much buck passing' says minister as she slams 'unacceptably slow' cladding repairs

More than half the buildings in Manchester found to have unsafe cladding are still waiting for repairs


By Damon Wilkinson

Reporter

29 SEP 2024

Building Safety Minister Rushanara Ali and Manchester MP Lucy Powell at the Linx Building in the Northern Quarter

 (Image: MoHCLG)

A government minister has slammed the 'unacceptably slow' speed of cladding repairs on high-rise buildings during a visit to Manchester.

Building Safety Minister Rushanara Ali said there had been 'too much buck passing' between developers, builders, manufacturers, owners and others as it was revealed more than half of the unsafe buildings in Manchester were still waiting for repairs.

Ms Ali was speaking during a visit to the Linx Building, a block of flats in the Northern Quarter, alongside Manchester Central MP and fellow cabinet minister Lucy Powell. Work replacing the flats' unsafe cladding is finally getting underway as part of the Government's £5bn Cladding Safety Scheme.

Earlier this month Andy Burnham revealed that seven years on from the Grenfell fire which killed 70 people, there were still 157 unsafe high-rise buildings in Greater Manchester. The Mayor urged the government to pay for the work needed to make these buildings safe now and charge the property industry later.

Ms Ali, who also visited The Peony Project for homeless women during her visit to Manchester, said: "People deserve to live in safe and secure homes. Yet the pace of remediation has been unacceptably slow.

"The Linx Building in Manchester, through the Cladding Safety Scheme, is seeing finally positive steps towards getting remediation works underway. However, there is a lot more work to do across the country.

"In Manchester alone, more than half of the buildings identified for remediation are still waiting to be fixed. We know the government must do more - and we will.

"But there has been too much passing the buck between manufacturers, freeholders, developers, and organisations that all have a responsibility to make sure buildings are safe. Those responsible need to get on with the job of fixing their buildings.

"We will not hesitate to take building owners to court if they fail to act, and will set out further measures to ramp up the pace of remediation in the autumn."

UK

Power in a union in precarious workplaces – Niamh Iliff

29th September 2024Leave a Commenton Power in a union in precarious workplaces – Niamh Iliff

“rethink and reapply standard union practise, with walkouts and viral social media campaigns becoming vital tools for reaching young, precarious workers”

By Niamh Iliff

Zero-hour contracts are often toted as a win-win, one where the worker and employer can both benefit and “decide” how much they work. In reality, this flexibility is a myth – one that benefits employers, not workers. These contracts gift employers with all the power, deciding how many hours to offer while workers are left in a constant state of uncertainty, never knowing how much they’ll earn from week to week. The employer – worker power dynamic is not ‘equalised’ under zero-hour contracts, but exacerbated, representing a heightened form of exploitation leaving workers vulnerable, with little control over their employment practise or financial stability.

The rise of zero-hour contracts began in the late 1990s, gaining prominence as a tool of neoliberal policies. By 2013, there were widespread calls to ban them. Instead, the government brought in a ban on the “exclusivity” clause, allowing workers to take on multiple zero-hour contracts. The result? Workers now face the burden of juggling several precarious jobs just to survive.  

Today, over 4 million people in the UK are in insecure work, with more than 1 million on zero-hour contracts, a significant increase from 200,000 in 2012. This employment practise does nothing to offer true flexibility. Real worker autonomy comes from secure jobs with set hours, not contracts that threaten basic rights like guaranteed income, holiday pay and sick leave.

The danger is clear: unless we actively challenge and dismantle zero-hour contracts, they will continue to become the norm across the economy. As the UK deindustrialises and traditionally unionised jobs disappear, more workers are being forced into the insecure service sector, where these contracts are the norm. Without resistance, this precarious form of employment threatens all workers. The broader trade union movement must not only make space for organising the gig economy and prioritise marginalised workers in union structures, but place resources and support the workers actively organising in the sector.

In zero-hour contract workplaces, workers are deliberatively pit against one another, creating a climate where securing hours often depends on staying in management’s good graces. This breeds competition and division, undermining workplace solidarity. Organising in these conditions presents unique challenges the labour movement hasn’t seen for decades, demanding fresh approaches to worker solidarity.

Campaigns are being led by Unite, GMB and the Bakers’ Union against these contracts. Worker led strikes, protests, community led campaigning and political lobbying are emerging as critical tools in the fight against zero-hour contracts. These efforts are more than workplace grievances; they represent a broader movement to reclaim our collective rights and resist the erosion of job security. We must rethink and reapply standard union practise, with walkouts and viral social media campaigns becoming vital tools for reaching young, precarious workers and building community between atomised staff.

Unite Hospitality, the union representing thousands of young people on zero-hour contracts exemplifies this shift. By collaborating with grassroots movements and social campaigning with local communities, we’ve managed to secure recognition agreements in venues across the UK, protecting workers victimised by these contracts. Young people, at the forefront of this movement, are proving that we can build power and workplace democracy in precarious workplaces one case at a time.

While the Labour government has proposed the banning of zero-hour contracts in their New Deal for Working People, we cannot wait passively for legislative change. The struggle to abolish these contracts and challenge the power dynamic of employers will only succeed through collective organising and grassroots action. Without pressure from below, any legal reform will be hollow.

Unions like GMB and Unite offer resources specifically designed for workers in precarious roles, helping us organise, understand our rights and build solidarity in our workplaces. The first step is communication; talk to your colleagues, share your experiences and recognise that your struggles are shared, and join a union. It is only through collective action that we can confront the system that survives on our exploitation.

Organising at work and in our communities is a radical act of resistance against zero-hour contracts that thrive on isolating workers. The contracts are not merely a symptom of inequality, but a mechanism designed from the systemic exploitation of young and precarious workers. To end this, we must confront it head-on through collective action, both in the workplace and beyond.

A world where secure, dignified work is a reality for all is completely possible, but we must fight for it. It will not be gifted to us for free. Young and precarious workers stand on the frontlines of this struggle, and it is through our united efforts that we can dismantle these oppressive systems and build a future where exploitation is a thing of the past.

---

• Niamh Iliff is a Unite Hospitality activist and West Midlands Youth Rep on Labour’s National Policy Forum – you can follow her on twitter here.

UK

Thousands of Bolt Drivers Fight for Worker Status and Compensation Over Unpaid Holiday Pay and Wage Discrepancies


Published by Laetitia at September 29, 2024
STUDENT LAWYER
Article written by Olga Kyriakoudi

More than 12,500 Bolt private hire drivers are contesting their employment status at the Central London Employment Tribunal, with hearings starting on 11 September. Represented by Leigh Day, a leading employment law firm, the drivers are pushing to be recognised as workers rather than independent contractors. Achieving this status would entitle them to crucial employment rights, such as holiday pay and the National Living Wage. They argue that Bolt exerts significant control over their working conditions, a situation comparable to Uber drivers who secured a landmark victory at the UK Supreme Court in 2021.

In the UK, employment law recognises three primary categories: employees, limb (b) workers, and independent contractors. While workers and employees are entitled to protections like holiday pay and the National Living Wage, employees enjoy broader rights, such as the ability to bring unfair dismissal claims. Independent contractors, however, fall outside these protections. Bolt, the Estonia-based ride-hailing app, treats its drivers as independent contractors, promoting flexibility and the ability to set their own hours. However, Leigh Day argues that Bolt’s drivers fit the legal definition of workers due to the company’s significant control over key aspects of their work, much like Uber’s drivers.

This legal action follows the pivotal Uber case in 2021, where the Supreme Court ruled that Uber drivers were workers rather than independent contractors. That decision clarified that, despite having flexibility in their hours, Uber drivers were subject to the company’s control over payments and contracts, which eroded their independence. It also reinforced that actual working relationships should take precedence over contractual terms, a move aimed at preventing companies from misclassifying workers through sham contracts—a frequent issue in the gig economy.

Leigh Day contends that Bolt drivers should be similarly classified. They argue that Bolt’s recent decision to offer holiday pay and guarantee the National Living Wage, effective from August 2024, does not address years of unpaid entitlements. The firm seeks compensation for unpaid holiday pay and wage shortfalls from previous years, which remain unaddressed by Bolt. In response, Bolt maintains that its business model allows drivers the flexibility and independence to set their own hours and rates, a setup that many drivers prefer. However, Leigh Day asserts that Bolt’s control over work conditions and pay means drivers are entitled to worker protections under UK law.

The hearing, expected to last three weeks, will hear from drivers about their working conditions. If successful, the drivers could receive significant compensation, and the ruling could spark similar claims from other gig economy workers.

As this case unfolds, it highlights broader trends in the gig economy and the strategies used by platform companies to defend their business models. As noted by James Muldoon, a senior lecturer in political science at the University of Exeter and the Head of Digital Research at the Autonomy think tank, in his 2024 article, companies like Bolt often begin with regulatory activism, lobbying for legal interpretations that align with their interests when they enter new markets. Bolt’s announcement of offering holiday pay and the National Living Wage may be seen as an attempt to placate regulators and avoid larger legal consequences. However, strategic litigation, such as the one currently playing out at the Central London Employment Tribunal, remains a common defensive tactic for platform companies. Bolt, like Uber before it, is attempting to preserve its business model by contesting its classification of drivers as independent contractors.

Labour’s proposed employment reforms could further complicate the situation for companies like Bolt. With a focus on ending exploitative practices like zero-hours contracts and ‘fire and rehire’ tactics, Labour aims to establish clearer distinctions between employment categories in the gig economy. As Muldoon explains, platform companies often adapt their tactics as regulations evolve. If Bolt’s legal defences fail, it may have to consider compromises, such as negotiating with unions or subcontracting drivers, to maintain a degree of distance from its workforce while offering limited employment rights.

Globally, platform companies rarely shut down operations when faced with legal challenges instead opting to adapt or delay compliance. As seen in California, these companies use aggressive legal strategies to carve out exemptions and, if necessary, threaten to withdraw services. As Muldoon points out, such tactics allow companies to preserve their business models and serve as warnings to lawmakers in other jurisdictions to enact similar laws. The outcome of the Bolt case will not only affect UK drivers but also contribute to the growing international debate over how gig workers are classified and protected.

As the gig economy continues to evolve, this case could pave the way for further legal claims from drivers and other workers seeking employment protections. While this shift promises better safeguards for workers, it will undoubtedly increase pressure on both companies and the legal system to uphold these evolving standards, reshaping the landscape of worker rights across the sector.

UK

McDonald’s and supermarkets failed to spot slavery

William McLennan, Phil Shepka and Jon Ironmonger
BBC England Investigations

BBC
Nine victims of modern slavery were forced to work at a McDonald's branch in Cambridgeshire


Signs that modern slavery victims were being forced to work at a McDonald’s branch and a factory supplying bread products to major supermarkets were missed for years, the BBC has found.

A gang forced 16 victims to work at either the fast-food restaurant or the factory - which supplied Asda, Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

Well-established signs of slavery, including paying the wages of four men into one bank account, were missed while the victims from the Czech Republic were exploited over more than four years.

McDonald’s UK said it had improved systems for spotting “potential risks”, while the British Retail Consortium said its members would learn from the case.


Six members of a family-run human trafficking network from the Czech Republic have been convicted in two criminal trials, which were delayed by the Covid pandemic.

Reporting restrictions have prevented coverage of much of the case, but BBC England can now reveal the full scale of the gang’s crimes - and the missed opportunities to stop them.

Nine victims were forced to work at the McDonald’s branch in Caxton, Cambridgeshire. Nine worked at the pitta bread company, with factories in Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire and Tottenham in north London, which made supermarket own-brand products. There were 16 victims in total across both sites, as two worked at both McDonald’s and the factory.

Facebook
Pavel, left, and Roman waived their anonymity to share their stories of being trafficked to the UK and forced to work in a McDonald's branch

The victims - who were all vulnerable, most having experienced homelessness or addiction - earned at least the legal minimum wage, but nearly all of their pay was stolen by the gang.

While they lived on a few pounds a day in cramped accommodation - including a leaking shed and an unheated caravan - police discovered their work was funding luxury cars, gold jewellery and a property in the Czech Republic for the gang.

On several occasions, victims escaped and fled home only to be tracked down and trafficked back to the UK.

The exploitation ended in October 2019 after victims contacted police in the Czech Republic, who then tipped off their British counterparts.

But warning signs had been missed for at least four years, the BBC has discovered by reviewing legal documents from the gang’s trial and interviewing three victims.

The undetected red flags include:Victims’ wages were paid into bank accounts in other people’s names. At the McDonald’s, at least four victims’ wages - totalling £215,000 - were being paid into one account, controlled by the gangVictims were unable to speak English, and job applications were completed by a gang member, who was even able to sit-in on job interviews as a translatorVictims worked extreme hours at the McDonald’s - up to 70 to 100 a week. One victim worked a 30-hour shift. The UN’s International Labour Organization says excessive overtime is an indicator of forced labourMultiple employees had the same registered address. Nine victims lived in the same terraced home in Enfield in north London while working at the bakery

“It really concerns me that so many red flags were missed, and that maybe the companies didn’t do enough to protect vulnerable workers,” said Dame Sara Thornton, the former independent anti-slavery commissioner, who reviewed the BBC’s findings.

Det Sgt Chris Acourt, who led the Cambridgeshire Police investigation, said there were “massive opportunities” that were missed to detect the slavery and alert authorities sooner.

“Ultimately, we could have been in a situation to end that exploitation much earlier had we been made aware,” he said.

Slavery on the High Street

For seven years, vulnerable victims of trafficking were forced to make food for major high street chains. How did their exploitation go undetected for so long?

Watch now on BBC iPlayer (UK Only)

Like many of the victims, Pavel - who has waived his legal right to anonymity - was homeless in the Czech Republic when he was approached by the gang in 2016.

He says he was lured in with the false promise of a well-paid job in the UK, where he could at the time work legally.

But the reality of what he experienced has left lasting scars, he said.

“You can’t undo the damage to my mental health, it will always live with me.”

He was given just a few pounds a day in cash by his exploiters, despite working 70-hour weeks at the McDonald’s branch, he said.

The gang - led by brothers Ernest and Zdenek Drevenak - confiscated the passports of all their victims and controlled them through fear and violence, police found.

“We were afraid,” Pavel said. “If we were to escape and go home, [Ernest Drevenak] has a lot of friends in our town, half the town were his mates.”


Pavel was targeted by the gang while homeless in the Czech Republic

The gang “treated their victims like livestock” feeding them just enough “to keep them going”, according to the Met’s Det Insp Melanie Lillywhite.

She said victims were controlled by “invisible handcuffs” - monitored by CCTV, prevented from using phones or the internet and unable to speak English.

“They really were cut off from the outside world,” she said.

While the gang has been convicted in court, Pavel believes McDonald’s also shares some responsibility.

“I do feel partially exploited by McDonald’s because they didn’t act,” he said.

“I thought if I was working for McDonalds, that they would be a little bit more cautious, that they will notice it.”

Two former colleagues told the BBC the extreme hours the men worked - and the impact it had on them - was plain to see.

Facebook
Gang leaders Zdenek Drevenak, left, and his brother Ernest controlled their victims with fear and violence

Like most McDonald’s, the Caxton outlet - on the A428 - is a franchise, which means an independent business pays the fast-food giant to allow it to run the restaurant.

While victims worked there between 2015 and 2019, it was run by two different franchise-holders. We contacted both, but they did not respond.

McDonald’s UK declined our offer of an interview, but provided a statement on behalf of the corporation and its franchisees.

It said the current franchisee - Ahmet Mustafa - had only been “exposed to the full depth of these horrific, complex and sophisticated crimes” in the course of his co-operating with police and the prosecution.

The company said it cares “deeply” about all employees and promised that - working with franchisees - it would “play our part alongside government, NGOs [Non-governmental organisations] and wider society to help combat the evils of modern slavery”.

It also said it commissioned an independent review in October 2023 and had taken action to improve its ability to “detect and deter potential risks, such as: shared bank accounts, excessive working hours, and reviewing the use of interpreters in interviews”.

Met Police
The gang used their victims' wages to finance luxury cars and a three-storey house in the Czech Republic

The bakery company - Speciality Flatbread Ltd - ceased trading and went into administration in 2022.

None of the supermarkets detected the slavery while victims worked at the factory between 2012 and 2019.

Dame Sara said she would have expected the retailers to be doing “pretty thorough due diligence”, adding that they normally “take much greater care about their own brand products because that’s their reputation that’s on the line”.

Sainsbury’s said it stopped using the company as an own-brand supplier in 2016.

The others only stopped sometime after police rescued the victims in 2019.

Asda told the BBC it was “disappointed that a historic case has been found in our supply chain”, adding that it would “review every case identified and act upon the learnings”.

It said it had made three site visits, but focused solely on food safety, and had stopped using the factory in 2020.

Tesco said inspections - supported by information from anti-slavery charity Unseen - “revealed concerning working practices” and the company “ceased all orders from the supplier” in 2020.

Waitrose said it pulled out in 2021 after its audits led to “concerns about factory standards and working conditions”.

The Co-op said it made “a number” of unannounced inspections, including worker interviews, but found no signs of modern slavery, adding that the company “actively work to tackle the shocking issue… both in the UK and abroad”.

M&S said it suspended and delisted the company in 2020 after it “became aware of potential breaches of ethical labour standards via the modern slavery helpline”.

The British Retail Consortium said workers’ welfare was “fundamental” to retailers, who it said acted quickly when concerns are raised.

“Nonetheless, it is important that the retail industry learns from cases like this to continually strengthen due diligence,” it said.

Met Police
Nine victims lived in a house in north London; some were forced to sleep in an outbuilding in the garden



Speciality Flatbreads’ director Andrew Charalambous did not respond to written requests for comment, but in a phone call from the BBC said he had supported the police and prosecution, adding that the company had been “thoroughly audited by top law firms” and “everything we were doing was legal”.

He added: “From our perspective we didn’t break the law in any way, having said that, yes, maybe you’re right in that maybe there were certain telltale signs or things like that, but that would have been for the HR department who were dealing with it on the front line.”

The Modern Slavery Act requires larger companies - including McDonald’s and the supermarkets, but not the factory - to publish annual statements outlining what they will do to tackle the issue.

Former Prime Minister Baroness Theresa May, who introduced the act as home secretary in 2015, accepted the law failed to protect victims in this case, and believes it needs to be “beefed up”.

The former PM - who now leads the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking - said the case was “frankly shocking” and shows “large companies not properly looking into their supply chains”.

She said the global commission was reviewing what new laws are needed “to ensure action is being taken by companies”.

Responding to the case, the government said it would “set out next steps on the issue of modern slavery in due course”.

It said it was “committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery” and would “pursue gangs and employers with every lever at our disposal while ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need”.



Additional reporting by Mary O'Reilly and Maria Jevstafjeva