UK shoppers would switch brands to avoid use of slaves

The majority of shoppers in the UK would switch brands or pay higher prices to avoid the use of slave labour in the products they buy, a rights group poll shows.

Two-third of consumers would stop buying a product if they learned that its manufacture involved exploiting workers, and more than half would pay up to 10 per cent more for slavery-free goods, according to the Walk Free Foundation.

A government-backed draft law, the Modern Slavery Bill, aims to tackle exploitation by requiring businesses in Britain to disclose what action they have taken to ensure their supply chains are slavery-free, and is expected to be passed before elections in May.

The International Labour Organisation estimates that globally, millions of forced labourers are generating some $150 billion a year in profits for those who exploit or enslave them.

Forced labour often lurks somewhere in the supply chain as a product and its individual parts may be manufactured, packaged and distributed in a process linking numerous suppliers in many different countries, business ethics experts say.

"Consumers, through their purchasing decisions, have the power to change how companies act," says Peter Nicholls, CEO of Global Business Authentication, a Walk Free programme that helps companies combat slavery in their supply chains.

"The problem is, most companies lack transparency over their supply chains and so it's very difficult for consumers to know which products are actually slavery free," Nicholls says.

Walk Free surveyed more than 2,000 adults across the UK to examine their shopping habits and purchases of food, tea and coffee, clothing and accessories and electronics.

Almost 70 per cent of consumers who buy luxury brands and around 60 per cent of those who buy low and mid range products would switch brands or pay more if they knew slavery was involved in their production, the poll shows.