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Seafood allegedly produced using the forced labour of Uyghur people in China may have been sold at Iceland – and could be on sale now at other British supermarkets, according to an investigation.

Iceland told Sky News it no longer had a relationship with the Chinese supplier in question.

Since 2018, the Chinese government is believed to have moved tens of thousands of Uyghurs from their homes in Xinjiang to other parts of China, as part of a “labour transfer programme”.

Human rights advocates say the programme constitutes forced labour, a charge that China has repeatedly denied. The Chinese embassy did not respond to our request for a comment.

An investigation by non-profit journalism organisation The Outlaw Ocean Project – shared with Sky News – has found that nine large seafood companies in Shandong, a province in east China, have received at least 2,000 Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities from Xinjiang – and that many of them supply the UK.

One of those is Shandong Meijia Group, one of the largest seafood processing companies in China.

Workers inside the Yantai Sanko Fisheries plant in Shandong province. Pic: Douyin
Image:
Workers inside the Yantai Sanko Fisheries plant in Shandong province. Pic: Douyin


In 2021, Sky News visited one of the company’s factories in the town of Rizhao, as part of an investigation that revealed details of Uyghur forced labour.

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The company had posted an article on its website showing Uyghurs arriving as part of the “integration of the national family”.

After Sky News sent questions to the company, the article was deleted. A manager at the entrance told our reporting team that there were no Uyghur workers.

But videos posted to Douyin – the Chinese counterpart of TikTok – have been uncovered by Outlaw Ocean and verified by Sky News.

They show Uyghur workers as recently as October 2022, and at another factory as recently as May 2023, at two Meijia Group plants: Meijia Jiayuan and Meijia Keyuan.

Shandong Meijia did not respond to Sky News’s request for comment.

Exhausted Uyghur workers inside plant in 2021. Pic: Douyin
Image:
Exhausted Uyghur workers inside the plant in 2021. Pic: Douyin

The Outlaw Ocean Project reviewed hundreds of pages of internal company newsletters, local news reports, a database of Uyghur testimonies, trade data, and satellite and cell phone imagery to verify the location of processing plants.

They also verified that the Douyin users had initially registered in Xinjiang.

Reporter Ian Urbina throws a bottle with interview questions inside at Chinese squid boat. Pic: The Outlaw Ocean Project/James Glancy
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Reporter Ian Urbina throws a bottle with interview questions inside at Chinese squid boat. Pic: The Outlaw Ocean Project/James Glancy

Interview questions thrown to crew inside plastic bottles

This investigation was produced by The Outlaw Ocean Project, which focuses on human rights and environmental crimes at sea around the world.

Based on over four years of reporting at sea and on land, including on the high seas near North Korea, West Africa, the Galapagos, and the Falkland islands, the investigation was conducted in collaboration with the New Yorker, and derives from reporting and writing from Ian Urbina, Maya Martin, Sue Ryan, Joe Galvin, Daniel Murphy, Jake Conley and Austin Brush.

To chronicle working conditions on Chinese fishing ships, the reporting team boarded vessels at sea and interviewed crew.

When permitted, they boarded vessels to talk to crew, or came alongside them to interview officers by radio.

In many instances, the Chinese ships got spooked, pulling up their gear and fleeing.

When this happened, the team trailed the ships in a small boat to get close enough to throw aboard plastic bottles weighed down with rice, and containing a pen, cigarettes, hard sweets, and interview questions.

On several occasions, deckhands wrote replies, providing phone numbers for family back home, and then threw the bottles back into the water.

The reporting included interviews with their family members, and with two dozen additional crew members.

Iceland hasn’t received products for ‘significant period’

Meijia’s customers include Iceland, and distributors Fastnet Fish and Westbridge Foods Ltd, according to an archived version of their customer list on their website.

Fastnet Fish has said that as a result of the investigation it had terminated its relationship with Meijia. Westbridge Foods did respond to Sky News’s request for comment.

Iceland appeared to admit that Meijia had, at one point, been a supplier – but a spokesperson told Sky News: “We can confirm that Iceland is not, nor has not for a significant period, received any products from such sites.

“It is Iceland’s policy to be able to act responsibly in all commercial and trading activities to establish that the working conditions of people working for, and within the supply chain, meet relevant international standards.”

Asked by Sky News, the supermarket did not explain when or why it stopped receiving products.

It also said it was working with international auditing organisations, such as the Ethical Trading Initiative and Sedex, on the issue of relocation of Uyghurs in China.

Inside Uyghur 'education camp'
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Yantai Sanko Fisheries workers at ‘political education sessions’ at the factory in 2021. Pic: Yantai United Front Work Department

Sainsbury’s ‘working to understand situation’

Uyghur workers were also deployed to other seafood factories run by the Chishan group, a Chinese conglomerate, according to The Outlaw Ocean Project’s research.

The company supplies Lyons Seafoods, which produces branded and private-label seafood for retailers including Sainsbury’s.

Lyons did not respond to Sky News’s request for comment – but its French parent company Labeyrie had previously told the Outlaw Ocean Project that they were “extremely concerned” by the allegations.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson told Sky News: “All of our suppliers have to meet our high ethical and worker welfare standards.

“If we have any reason to believe there is a situation within our supply chains which is in breach of those standards we take immediate action.

“We are working together with our suppliers and wider industry partners to understand the situation and take the most responsible and appropriate next steps.”

Fish shipments bound for Europe usually pass through Rotterdam – where sometimes they are repackaged in different containers – which can add to the difficulty in tracking shipments.

From there, the seafood shipments arrive at UK ports, such as Felixstowe.

A map showing the supply chain of seafood from China to the UK
Image:
A map showing the supply chain of seafood from China to the UK

‘Human trafficking, wage theft and criminal level of neglect’

As part of a four-year-long investigation, the Outlaw Ocean Project may have revealed other abuses connected to China’s vast fishing fleet – including the story of Daniel Daniel Aritonang, a 20-year-old Indonesian who died from the disease Beriberi after suffering abuse on a Chinese vessel.

Daniel Daniel Aritonang
Image:
Daniel Aritonang

Ian Urbina, the director of the Outlaw Ocean Project, told Sky News: “The human rights and labour crimes – you’re dealing with human trafficking, you’re dealing with death by violence, wage theft, blocking of timely access to medical care, criminal level of neglect in the form of Beriberi, people that are essentially deprived of the key nutrients to be able to survive.

“Vessels that go dark and turn off their transponders and they disappear – all these are well documented crimes as well that are in the marine space.”

Chinese fishing vessel
Chinese workers being interviewed on board squid fishing ship. Pic: Ed Ou
Image:
Workers being interviewed on board a Chinese squid fishing ship. Pic: Ed Ou

The group that owned the vessel, Rongcheng Wangda, has denied any wrongdoing and has referred the matter to the China Overseas Fisheries Association for investigation. No criminal case been brought.

Chinese government video claiming to show transfer of workers from Kashgar authorities. Pic: Douyin/Kashgar Media Centre
Image:
Chinese government video claiming to show transfer of workers from Xinjiang. Pic: Douyin/Kashgar Media Centre

“The reality is that because it’s out of sight, out of mind, you know, a lot of that is happening over the horizon, quite literally,” David Hammond, chief executive of the NGO Human Rights at Sea, told Sky News.

“Nobody knows what’s going on. So you then have the issue of enforcement and there is a massive lacuna in the enforcement issue from coastal states and international waters.

“And without enforcement, you don’t have a deterrent effect and without deterrent effect, you have impunity.”

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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Spending review 2025: The key announcements

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Spending review 2025: The key announcements

Rachel Reeves is setting out her spending review in the House of Commons.  

It outlines how much funding individual government departments will receive over the next three years and state infrastructure investment for the next four years.

The last spending review took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, and before that, in 2015.

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Here’s what’s been announced so far – please refresh this page for updates.

Defence

A major recipient of funds is the Ministry of Defence. Defence spending will rise from 2.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.6% by 2027. An £11bn uplift and a £600 million uplift for security and intelligence agencies.

Within that there’ll be £4.5bn of investment in munitions made in Glasgow and more than £6bn to upgrade to nuclear submarine production.

Border security

The chancellor goes onto border security, where she says funding will increase with up to £280m more per year by the end of the spending review for the new Border Security Command.

She said the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will end the costly use of hotels to house asylum seekers by 2029.

The chancellor says funding she has announced today, including from the transformation fund, will also cut the asylum backlog, see more appeal cases heard and “return people who have no right to be here”.

This will save the taxpayer £1bn a year, she says.

Energy

The biggest nuclear building programme for half a century has been announced with £14.2bn being poured into the Sizewell C nuclear power station on the Suffolk coastline.

A total of £14bn will go to the Sizewell C nuclear power plant. Another £2.5bn will be invested in a new small modular reactor programme.

A commitment to nuclear was reiterated, with £30bn allocated.

Science and technology

Moving on from energy and infrastructure, the chancellor says she wants the country’s high tech industries in Britain to continue to lead the world in the years to come.

Research and development funding will go to a record high of £22bn a year by the end of the spending period.

The government’s artificial intelligence action plan will receive £2bn.

Housing

Government funding of social and affordable housing has been allocated £39bn – which she called the “biggest cash injection into social housing in 50 years”.

She says she is providing an additional £10bn for financial investments, including to be delivered through Homes England, to help unlock hundreds of thousands more homes.

Transport

The chancellor announced £15bn for new rail, tram and bus networks across the West Midlands and the North. She’s also green-lit a new rail line between Liverpool and Manchester.

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Spending review: More cash for schools, NHS and defence expected as chancellor unveils plans

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Spending review: More cash for schools, NHS and defence expected as chancellor unveils plans

The chancellor will unveil the spending review at lunchtime – with plans to invest billions of pounds across the UK.

However, Rachel Reeves will admit that “too many people” are yet to feel the benefits of the government’s work so far.

In the House of Commons, she will confirm the budgets for each government department over the next three years – with boosts expected for schools, defence and the NHS.

Ms Reeves will vow to spend vast sums of money across the country to “ensure that renewal is felt in people’s everyday lives, their jobs, their communities”.

She is also pledging to set out “reforms that will guarantee towns and cities outside London and the South East can benefit from new investment”.

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out the government's spending plans for the next three years. Pic: Reuters
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out the government’s spending plans for the next three years. Pic: Reuters

Ms Reeves is expected to say: “This government is renewing Britain. But I know too many people in too many parts of the country are yet to feel it.

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“This government’s task – my task – and the purpose of this spending review – is to change that … So that people can see a doctor when they need one. Know that they are secure at work. And feel safe on their local high street.

“The priorities in this spending review are the priorities of working people. To invest in our country’s security, health and economy so working people all over our country are better off.”

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What to expect from the spending review

Watch live coverage of the spending review on Sky News from 12pm

Ms Reeves will formally confirm “the biggest-ever local transport infrastructure investment in England’s city regions” – worth £15.6bn – as well as £86bn to “boost science and technology”, including by building the Sizewell C nuclear power station.

She will also announce the extension of the £3 cap on bus fares, Sky News understands. The cap – which Labour lifted from £2 – was due to expire at the end of this year.

Meanwhile, £39bn for a new Affordable Homes Programme over the next 10 years is set to be unveiled, with the government seeking to ramp up housebuilding to hit its manifesto pledge of 1.5 million new homes by the end of this parliament.

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‘You are everyone’s worst enemy’

The chancellor will argue: “The choices in this spending review are possible only because of the stability I have introduced and the choices I took in the autumn.”

One of those choices included cutting the winter fuel allowance for almost all pensioners – a decision the government has now U-turned on at a cost of £1.25bn. However, she is not expected to explain where that money will come from until the budget this autumn.

Ms Reeves will tell MPs: “I have made my choices. In place of chaos, I choose stability. In place of decline, I choose investment. In place of retreat, I choose national renewal.

“These are my choices. These are this government’s choices. These are the British people’s choices.”

Read more:
Why the spending review is a massive deal
Five things you need to know

But shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said this will be “the ‘spend today, tax tomorrow’ spending review” – arguing that the government is “spending money it doesn’t have, with no credible plan to pay for it”.

He said in a statement: “Rachel Reeves talks about ‘hard choices’ – but her real choice has been to take the easy road. Spend more, borrow more, and cross her fingers. This spending review won’t be a plan for the future – it will be a dangerous gamble with Britain’s economic stability.”

He went on: “Today, we’ll hear slogans, spin and self-congratulation – but not the truth. Don’t be fooled. Behind the spin lies a dangerous economic gamble that risks the country’s financial future.”

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Jobless rate above predicted peak as budget tax hikes kick in

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Jobless rate above predicted peak as budget tax hikes kick in

The UK’s jobless rate ticked up to 4.6% in April while payrolled employment has fallen sharply since, according to official figures covering the period when budget tax hikes on businesses came into effect.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the new unemployment rate covering the three months to April was the highest since July 2021.

It had previously stood at 4.5% – a total of more than 1.6 million people.

At 4.6%, it is above the peak level predicted for this year, just in March, by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Money latest: My insurance firm charged me £700 after my dog died – is this right?

Figures from the taxman also highlighted by the ONS showed the number of people in payrolled employment during May fell by 109,000 – double April’s revised figure of 55,000 and the biggest monthly drop in five years.

The ONS Labour Force Survey data was the first to cover April’s rises in employer national insurance contributions and the national living wage – hikes to costs for businesses which lobby groups had warned would result in job losses, price rises and lower wage settlements.

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The ONS figures showed average weekly earnings, excluding the effects of bonuses, over the three months to April were weaker, from a downwardly revised 5.5% to 5.2% year on year.

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Cost of living impacts families

Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics, said: “There continues to be weakening in the labour market, with the number of people on payroll falling notably.

“Feedback from our vacancies survey suggests some firms may be holding back from recruiting new workers or replacing people when they move on.”

The ONS data piles more pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves, just a day after she confirmed her winter fuel U-turn would cost £1.25bn.

She has consistently defenced her budget, arguing the taxes on business were a one-off necessary evil to account for a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances inherited from the last government.

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How big is winter fuel payments U-turn?

Employment minister Alison McGovern said in response to the data: “Six months after we launched Get Britain Working, we are already seeing the benefits with economic activity at a record high, with 500,000 more people in employment since we entered office and real wages growing more since July than in the decade after 2010.

“People all over the country are benefiting from increased training opportunities and the newly launched Jobs and Careers Service will allow us to test new and innovative approaches to personalise employment support.”

Despite the wage figure easing, that 5.2% level remains comfortably ahead of the 3.5% rate of the pace of price growth – inflation.

Read more from Sky News:
Paternity pay in UK ‘among lowest in developed world’
Government commits £14.2bn to new nuclear power station

The curb to consumer spending power will be welcomed by the Bank of England as its rate-setters continue to fret that strong wage growth represents an inflation risk ahead.

The ONS figures did little to boost financial market expectations of a further rate cut next month.

LSEG data showed 90% of market participants believed there would be no no change – with just one further cut this year being fully priced in.

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