Parliament Raises Concerns Over Shein to London Stock Exchange and City Regulator

File photo of Labour MP Liam Byrne dated Jan. 20, 2024. Maja Smiejkowska/PA Wire

The Business and Trade Committee chairman has written to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to raise concerns about evidence given by Chinese fashion retailer Shein relating to forced labour in its supply chain.

Last week, Chairman Liam Byrne said MPs were left “pretty horrified” after Shein’s General Counsel Yinan Zhu declined several times during a committee meeting to respond to questions about whether or not cotton produced in the Xinjiang Province was used to make clothing sold by the company.

The Chinese communist regime has been accused of subjecting Xinjiang’s Uyghur population to slave labour.

Shein is believed to be preparing to seek listing on the LSE, prompting Byrne to write to the stock exchange’s Chief Executive Officer Dame Julia Hoggett to draw her attention to the transcript of the committee evidence.

In the letter dated Thursday and published on Friday, Byrne said, “The Committee was profoundly concerned at the lack of candid and open answers to some extremely simple, basic questions about the integrity of Shein’s supply chain.”

“In light of this I would be grateful if you would let me know what checks, if any, the London Stock Exchange has in place to authenticate statements by firms seeking to list, with particular regard to their safeguards against the use of forced labour in their products,” he wrote.

The committee chairman also wrote to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which administers the regulations for listings on the LSE, similarly asking what checks the FCA conducts to ensure that all legal risks are disclosed.

‘Bordered on Contempt’

During the committee session on Jan. 7, Zhu had repeatedly declined to give details related to the supply chain, saying she could not answer questions on “detailed operational information and in other aspects,” and requested to be able to respond in writing at a later date.

Zhu also said she could not comment on whether the company was seeking listing in the UK.

Closing that portion of the session, Byrne told Zhu: “I have to say, for a company that sells a billion pounds to UK consumers, and for a company which is seeking to float on the London Stock Exchange, the committee has been pretty horrified by the lack of evidence that you have provided today.

“You’ve given us almost zero confidence in the integrity of your supply chains. You can’t even tell us what your products are made from.

“You can’t tell us much about the conditions which workers have to work in, and the reluctance to answer basic questions has frankly bordered on contempt of the committee.”

Byrne later wrote to Zhu, dated Jan. 10 and published on Monday, asking for further information on Shein’s “approach to human and labour rights,” including questions previously asked on cotton from the Xinjiang region.

The committee expects a response to the letter by Jan. 20.

LSE Preparing Response

An LSE Group spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that it received the letter and said it was preparing a response.

Shein declined to comment on the letters to the news wire service.

The Epoch Times contacted Shein for further comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

A Shein pop-up store at a mall in Singapore, on April 4, 2024. Edgar Su/Reuters

Shein previously told The Epoch Times that it has a “zero-tolerance policy for forced labour.”

The statement continued: “Visibility across our entire supply chain is of the highest importance to us and we are wholly committed to respecting human rights.”

“To comply with applicable laws, we not only require that our contract manufacturers only source materials from approved regions but we also verify this independently.”

UK-China Relations

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves conducted a three-day visit to Beijing and Shanghai between Jan. 10 and 13, which she said resulted in unlocking access to the Chinese market worth £600 million to the UK economy over the next five years.

In a written statement published on Monday, Reeves said that the UK would continue to engage with international partners to grow the British economy, “while ensuring that our security and values are not compromised.”

“This means finding the right way to build a stable and balanced relationship with China. One that recognises the importance of cooperation in addressing the global issues we face, competing where our interests differ, and challenging robustly where we must,” Reeves said.

“I raised a range of UK concerns in meetings with Chinese government counterparts, including Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine, developments in constraints on rights and freedoms in Hong Kong, and human rights. Our approach ensures we can confidently challenge China on areas where we disagree and uphold the UK’s national security, the first duty of our government,” she said.