Ed Miliband to ban Chinese ‘slave-trade' solar panels

Times

23-04-2025

Solar panels linked to Chinese slave labour will not be used by Britain's state-owned energy company after a government climbdown that could threaten its net-zero ambitions.
In a major policy reversal, the energy minister Ed Miliband will introduce an amendment to legislation that will force GB Energy to ensure 'slavery and human trafficking is not taking place' in its supply chain.
All solar panels, wind turbines and batteries must not contain materials suspected to have been produced through slave labour. Much of the world's supply of polysilicon comes from the Xinjiang region, where there are suspected human rights abuses of the Uighur population.
The reversal was welcomed by some Labour MPs who had campaigned on the issue after they were ordered to block the same proposed ban when it was tabled by peers, last month.
Labour instructed its MPs to vote down an amendment from the Lords which would have changed the Great British Energy Bill, preventing ministers from providing financial assistance to GB Energy if there were credible evidence of modern slavery in the company's supply chains.
A government source said there had been 'recognition of the strength of feeling' after 92 MPs abstained on the previous vote. It is also understood that campaigners had lined up case studies of solar panels which were linked to slave labour being installed on public buildings.
Critics said it would also heap further pressure on the government's 2050 net-zero ambitions by slowing the pace of the UK's transition away from fossil fuels. It has also pledged to achieve clean energy by 2030.
Ministers are understood to have been 'convinced that GB Energy needs to be an industry leader' in rooting out slavery from supply chains.
A government source said: 'We are committed to ensuring Great British Energy is a sector leader in this area, developing resilient, home-grown supply chains free from forced labour, and will bring forward proposals shortly on this.'
Andrew Bowie, the acting shadow energy secretary, told The Times the move would lead to a 'real slowdown in the deployment of solar in the United Kingdom'.
He said: 'It's a belated realisation that the use of slave labour in the manufacturing of solar technology is real, but Labour really need to answer serious questions about whether their own self-imposed targets can be met without these solar panels, and what they're going to do to address this.'
John Flesher, deputy director of the Conservative Environment Network, said it was a 'long overdue move' which he welcomed — but warned: 'The government must now act to ensure that this knee-jerk U-turn doesn't damage our environmental goals and the solar industry.'
He said the government now 'must be bold' and do 'much more to support British and allied supply chains to meet the demand', adding: 'If the government doesn't act, we will not only hurt efforts to decarbonise but miss out on an enormous opportunity for economic growth.'
Campaigners have said that 97 per cent of solar panels sold in the UK include materials from Xinjiang. Senior government sources insisted pledges would still be met due to the building-up of domestic supply chains and pressure put on China.
They said: 'There is an absolute abundance of solar panels, and it is more than possible to source our global need for solar panels in a way that is compliant with human rights.'
Sources also said China was 'beginning to understand how important and serious this is' for countries buying materials from them, which Miliband stressed on a recent visit to the country.
They said it was a 'buyer's club' of countries who were demanding better standards from China, adding: 'We've got to both diversify from China, but also we've got to keep going on … a buyer's group of countries who are demanding change.'
Campaigners have said that solar and wind are heavily exposed to forced labour, with more than 500 allegations of human rights abuses linked to the extraction of key minerals in supply chains needed for the energy transition.
About 40 per cent of Britain's solar industry has been reported as being at risk of being linked to Uighur forced labour.
Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham who has long campaigned on the issue, said she was 'relieved' by the move but would be holding ministers to further commitments. She added: 'This is the only way to make sure our transition to net zero is not carried through on the backs of slavery and exploitation.'
Luke de Pulford, the executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), said he was 'delighted the government has listened and acted'.
He said: 'We cannot build a just transition on the backs of Uighur slaves. Since the 2015 Modern Slavery Act there have been two major changes to primary legislation on forced labour in supply chains. Lord Alton [of Liverpool], supported by IPAC MPs and civil society, was responsible for the amendments that led to both of them.
'We now need to ensure that the law has teeth, and that GB Energy doesn't allow a single solar panel with slave-produced polysilicon, a single battery with slave-processed raw materials, or a wind turbine with slave-produced metals to reach our shores.'