Labour MPs have voted to pass a ban on the government's purchase of solar panels, with “credible evidence” in the supply process. [emphasis, links added]
Peers fear China has used forced labor to produce the reformed legislation in an attempt to prevent the UK's new public energy company GB Energy from purchasing such products.
But ministers whipped Labor MPs to vote on the proposed amendment, which could mean slave-made solar panels were eventually installed on public buildings.
Under the government's plan to net power by 2030, many solar panels will come from China, which will produce 80% of the global supply.
Xinjiang region is widely suspected of human rights violations against the Uyghur population, which can generate up to 40% of the Polysilicon, an important part of the group.
Ministers said they would take steps to ensure stricter procurement rules, such as appointing senior figures from GB Energy (GBE) to study “ethical supply chains and modern slavery.”
They also said companies must demonstrate that they have conducted their own assessment of the supply chain but have not supported the House of Lords ban.
Critics, including [those] On the labor bench, the government should consider reflecting U.S. law, unless otherwise proved and subject to import bans, the goods produced in Xinjiang were made with forced labor.
The amendment voted by 314 to 198.
It proposes that public funds “if there is reliable evidence of modern slavery in the energy supply chain of any company designated as UK energy”.
No Labor MP voted for the amendment, but there were several abstentions, including well-known back-bench critics such as Rachael Maskell and Alex Sobel, who is a member of the Parliament's Joint Human Rights Committee.
Shadow Energy Minister Andrew Bowie told the commons: “It was on this day in 1807 that the repeal of the Slave Trade Act was granted royal consent on that day.
“And for 218 years, MPs will be whipped to allow the state to directly fund the import of goods built in China for slave labor.”
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