‘For fairness at home and abroad, let’s seize the opportunity for responsible business legislation’ – LabourList

Recent incidents, such as Boohoo’s sweatshops in Leicester, Shell’s oil pollution in the Niger Delta, deforestation in Brazil, Uyghur forced labour, and many more cases, have highlighted the growing insecurity and complexity in global supply chains, and the risks it presents to human rights and the environment. These issues are prompting UK consumers, businesses and policymakers to scrutinise how products are made and delivered.

Additionally, testimonies from farmers and workers in Kenya, Ghana and Uganda emphasise that persistent issues like inadequate incomes, wage violations, and environmental harms continue to plague agricultural supply chains, including those for tea, cocoa and coffee.

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Producers in these regions and beyond are advocating for stronger regulations to ensure businesses do everything in their power to prevent these risks. During a visit to the UK this week, Nancy Githaiga, a Fairtrade tea farmer and Manager of Gatunguru Tea Factory in Kenya, emphasised the importance of levelling the playing field for all businesses. She highlighted that it should not only be Fairtrade-certified producers meeting high environmental and human rights standards. “When big brands or retailers dodge their obligations, responsible UK businesses are undercut” Nancy said.

Nancy also expressed support for clearer legislation, explaining, “The more expensive compliance is, the less compliance there will be. By streamlining regulations into one law it simplifies enforcement and business compliance on behalf of producers to mitigate the risks we see: in my case in the tea industry.”

As a result, momentum is growing for stronger laws to support UK businesses in protecting human rights, workers’ rights and the environment across their global value chains. Other governments including Canada, the EU and Norway are already introducing legislation to address this issue. The UK government should follow suit.

This year, the Labour Government has begun taking steps to tackle this issue. The ongoing Responsible Business Conduct Review, announced in June’s Trade Strategy, is a welcome and invaluable opportunity to strengthen the UK’s policy framework around corporate accountability and responsibility.

The Labour Party has a long history of advocating for workers’ rights, women’s rights, environmental responsibility and social justice. We take pride in our belief in fairness at home and abroad, but a lack of effective UK legislation on corporate accountability hinders progress. Principles of justice, fairness and respect for human and environmental rights are, and must remain, at the heart of this Government’s approach to growth and prosperity.

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In this context, the time is now surely right for Labour to show global leadership on corporate accountability by introducing mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) legislation. The Government has the opportunity to introduce world-leading legislation to level the playing field for responsible businesses by requiring all businesses and the public sector to take all reasonable steps to prevent human rights and environmental harm in their supply chains.

I, along with a number of my parliamentary colleagues, am already calling on the Government to introduce just such an HREDD law.

That is why I’m pleased to be supporting “Responsible Business Day” at this year’s Labour Party Conference. On the Sunday of conference, civil society organisations, trade union leaders, producers from the Global South, policymakers and businesses will be taking part in two events to highlight the case for an HREDD law.

• First, the Ethical Trading Initiative is leading a discussion at 12:15 pm on “Good Business: Why mHREDD Delivers for Everyone”, featuring senior business leaders and trade unionists including Paul Nowak (TUC).

• Later, at 3:15pm, the Corporate Justice Coalition, Fairtrade Foundation, ActionAid and Friends of the Earth will bring together civil society, international producers, and activists for a panel on “Planet, Profit and People: Who Pays the Price for Corporate Harms?”, which I am pleased to be joining as a speaker.

I would strongly encourage all Labour members to join us at these two events and add your voices to the call for an HREDD law that protects people, the planet, and responsible business.

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Labour today has the ability to be a powerful agent of change for workers, farmers and producers not just in the UK, but across the globe. Let’s seize this opportunity and show that our commitment to people like Nancy means that ethical business must be a prerequisite for good business.

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