UUP calls for inquiry into 'slave trade'

Ulster Unionist assembly member Danny Kennedy has called for an inquiry into allegations that hundreds of eastern European workers are being brought into Northern Ireland and used as cheap labour, mostly on farms.

The Newry and Armagh MLA congratulated the BBC Northern Ireland 'Spotlight' programme, which investigated the 'slave trade' allegations.

He said: “The Home Office, immigration officials and the Northern Ireland Office should be looking at how widespread the problem is and the only way we can ensure we get to the bottom of the matter is to have a full investigation.

“The television programme claimed that, as well as the profits made in Northern Ireland, eastern European agents are making hundreds of thousands of pounds from trafficking workers to Northern Ireland.

“If these people are paying to be brought in to work on farms in harsh condition on false promises of high pay, it is scandalous,” said Mr Kennedy.

An undercover BBC reporter was filmed being paid £6 for eight hours work, while another revealed evidence of a suspected organised trafficking network operating across Northern Ireland.

(GB)