South west Wiltshire MP, Dr Andrew Murrison has questioned Minister Nigel Adam over the government’s China policy, following reports this week of Chinese slave labour.

Based on Chinese government documents described as reliable by Minister Adams, a report from the Center for Global Policy records that at least half a million people have been forced to pick cotton in China’s Xinjiang province – where a million Muslim minority Uighurs have been imprisoned since 2017.

Dr Murrison, a former foreign and commonwealth office minister, has been consistent in questioning the government over China’s oppressive state activities, having last month questioned China’s encroachment into Hong Kong’s democratic process.

Dr Murrison asked the Minister: “Will he persuade not only his colleagues, but those governments he persuaded in October [at the United Nations] to support the Uighur people, to look at national public procurement supply chains to ensure national governments are doing everything in their power… to have nothing to do with cotton sourced from countries that may be using forced labour?”

The Minister agreed collaboration is vital across government and with international partners, and that more action can be expected in the New Year.