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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
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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
Image:
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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Ofwat could be scrapped in water reforms

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Ofwat could be scrapped in water reforms

An independent review of the water industry is to recommend sweeping changes to the way the sector is managed, including the potential replacement of Ofwat with a strengthened body combining economic and environmental regulation.

Former Bank of England governor Sir Jon Cunliffe will publish the findings of the Independent Water Commission on Monday, with stakeholders across the industry expecting significant changes to regulation to be at its heart.

The existing regulator Ofwat has been under fire from all sides in recent years amid rising public anger at levels of pollution and the financial management of water companies.

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Campaigners and politicians have accused Ofwat of failing to hold water operators to account, while the companies complain that its focus on keeping bills down has prevented appropriate investment in infrastructure.

In an interim report, published in June, Sir Jon identified the presence of multiple regulators with overlapping responsibilities as a key issue facing the industry.

While Ofwat is the economic regulator, the Environment Agency has responsibility for setting pollution standards, alongside the Drinking Water Inspectorate.

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Sir Jon’s final report is expected to include a recommendation that the government consider a new regulator that combines Ofwat’s economic regulatory powers with the water-facing responsibilities currently managed by the EA.

In his interim report, Sir Jon said options for reform ranged from “rationalising” existing regulation to “fundamental, structural options for integrating regulatory remits and functions”.

He is understood to have discussed the implications of fundamental reform with senior figures in industry and government in the last week as he finalised his report.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed is expected to launch a consultation on the proposals following publication of the commission report.

The commission is also expected to recommend a “major shift” in the model of economic regulation, which currently relies on econometric modelling, to a supervisory approach that takes more account of individual company circumstances.

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How water can teach Labour a much-needed lesson


Liz Bates

Liz Bates

Political correspondent

@wizbates

On Monday, the government’s long-awaited review into the UK’s water industry will finally report.

The expectation is that it will recommend sweeping changes – including the abolition of the regulator, Ofwat.

But frustrated customers of the water companies could rightly complain that the process of taking on this failing sector and its regulator has been slow and ineffective.

They may be forgiven for going further and suggesting that how Labour has dealt with water is symbolic of their inability to make an impact across many areas of public life, leaving many of their voters disappointed.

This is an industry that has been visibly and rapidly declining for decades, with the illegal sewage dumping and rotting pipes in stark contrast with the vast salaries and bonuses paid out to their executives.

It doesn’t take a review to see what’s gone wrong. Most informed members of the public could explain what has happened in a matter of minutes.

And yet, despite 14 years in opposition with plenty of time to put together a radical plan, a review is exactly what the government decided on before taking on Ofwat.

Month after month, they were asked if they believed the water industry regulator was fit for purpose despite the obvious disintegration on their watch. Every time the answer was ‘yes’.

As in so many areas of government, Labour, instead of acting, needed someone else to make the decision for them, meaning that it has taken over a year to come to the simple conclusion that the regulator is in fact, not fit for purpose.

As they enter their second year in office, maybe this can provide a lesson they desperately need to learn if they want to turn around their fortunes.

That bold decisions do not require months of review, endless consultations, or outside experts to endlessly analyse the problem.

They just need to get on with it. Voters will thank them.

Sir Jon has said the water industry requires long-term strategic planning and stability in order to make it attractive to “low-risk, low-return investors”.

The water industry has long complained that the current model, in which companies are benchmarked against a notional model operator, and penalised for failing to hit financial and environmental standards, risks a “doom loop”.

Thames Water, currently battling to complete an equity process to avoid falling into special administration, has said the imposition of huge fines for failing to meet pollution standards is one of the reasons it is in financial distress.

Publication of the Independent Commission report comes after the Environment Agency published figures showing that serious pollution incidents increased by 60% in 2024, and as Thames Water imposes a hosepipe ban on 15m customers.

Ofwat, Water UK and the Department for the Environment all declined to comment.

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Post Office Capture IT system conviction referred to Court of Appeal for first time

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Post Office Capture IT system conviction referred to Court of Appeal for first time

The first Post Office Capture conviction is to be sent to the Court of Appeal, Sky News understands, in a “breakthrough” moment in the IT scandal.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has decided to refer the case of sub-postmistress Patricia Owen, who was convicted in 1998 of theft.

Mrs Owen was found guilty by a jury based on evidence from the faulty IT software Capture, which was used in 2,500 branches between 1992 and 1999, before the Horizon Post Office scandal.

Pat Owen and husband David
Screengrabs from Adele Robinson i/vs with case study. Family of Pat Owen from Kent who was convicted of 1998 from stealing from her post office branch. Now the Capture IT system is suspected of adding errors to the accounts. 
Source P 175500FR POST OFFICE CAPTURE CASES ROBINSON 0600 VT V2 JJ1
Image:
Pat Owen, pictured here with her husband David, always maintained her innocence but died in 2003 with a criminal record

Pat Owen always maintained her innocence but died in 2003 with a criminal record before the wider Post Office scandal came to light.

It comes after Sky News revealed that a damning report into Capture, which could help overturn criminal convictions, had been unearthed after nearly 30 years.

The decision to refer the first-ever Capture case to the Court of Appeal has been made on the grounds that Mrs Owen’s prosecution was an “abuse of process”.

The development has been described by victims’ lawyer Neil Hudgell as “hugely pivotal”.

“The Court of Appeal don’t receive that many referrals that start at the CCRC, and most get turned away, so it’s a very high bar to even get cases from the CCRC to the Court of Appeal…”

“I think it will be a real shot in the arm to all the other Capture victims who are waiting for their cases to be determined by the CCRC.”

Mr Hudgell described the report found earlier this year – written by computer experts in 1998 and highly critical of Capture – as “significantly tipping the balance”.

Screengrabs from Adele Robinson i/v with lawyer for victims of the Capture IT system, Neil Hudgell from Hudgell Solicitors
Source P 175500FR POST OFFICE CAPTURE CASES ROBINSON 0600 VT V2 JJ1
Image:
Lawyer Neil Hudgell says development is ‘hugely pivotal’

Sky News found that the Post Office knew about the report at the time and continued to prosecute sub-postmasters based on Capture evidence.

Pat Owen always maintained her innocence but died in 2003 with a criminal record before the wider Post Office scandal came to light.

Her daughter Juliet Shardlow said she cried when she heard the news that her mother’s case would be referred to the Court of Appeal.

“I feel angry that she is not here because she died before her time… we will be there – we will be sitting there in that front row.

“I can’t put it into words because it’s still all a shock that we are where we are and that later this year, or next year, we might have what we set out to get… justice for her.”

Juliet Shardlow whose mother sub-postmistress Patricia Owen who was convicted in 1998 of theft
Image:
Juliet Shardlow is seeking justice for her mother

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The CCRC is currently investigating 30 cases potentially related to the Capture software system.

Twenty-seven of those cases are now assigned to case review managers and under “active review”, with a further three cases in the preparatory stages.

The CCRC has described a “challenge” over determining “whether cases involved the use of Capture at the time of the alleged offences”.

In a letter written to Liam Byrne, chair of the Business and Trade Committee, and seen by Sky News, it said that information the Post Office has provided “does not, in most cases, show whether it was installed and in operation at the time of the alleged offending”.

It also mentioned that the Post Office is reviewing “a significant amount of data which may contain further information”.

A Post Office spokesperson said: “While it is not appropriate for us to comment on specific cases, we have been very concerned about the reported problems relating to the use of the Capture software, and we are sincerely sorry for past failings that have caused suffering to postmasters.

“We are determined that past wrongs are put right and continue to support the government’s work in this area as well as fully co-operate with the Criminal Cases Review Commission.”

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Serious water pollution incidents in England up 60% last year – with three companies blamed for most

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Serious water pollution incidents in England up 60% last year - with three companies blamed for most

The number of most serious water pollution incidents rose by 60% last year, according to data covering England, with three companies responsible for the bulk of them.

The Environment Agency (EA) – under fire for its own oversight of water firms’ pollution performance – said that more than 80% of the 75 instances of pollution in its two most serious categories were the responsibility of Thames Water (33), Southern Water (15) and Yorkshire Water (13).

But the body added it had found “consistently poor performance” across all nine water and wastewater firms in the country – a similar summary to that of 2023.

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According to the report, reasons behind the 2024 results included persistent underinvestment in new infrastructure, poor asset maintenance, and reduced resilience due to the impacts of climate change.

The period was dominated by spells of intense rainfall, which overwhelmed storm overflows and resulted in sewage discharges.

The EA reported 2,801 pollution incidents in total during 2024 – a hike of almost a third.

Thames Water, which has almost 16 million households on its books and is struggling to shore up its very future, was fined a record £105m by the regulator Ofwat in May for breaching wastewater rules.

Fast-forward to 2025 and England is experiencing its driest start to the year since 1976.

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Drought in England explained

Hosepipe bans are expanding as drought conditions are declared.

The data was released as a committee of MPs called for regulation of water companies to face a “complete overhaul” amid a lack of public trust and anger over surging bills to pay for long overdue infrastructure improvements.

The Public Accounts Committee said that Ofwat and the EA had failed to secure industry compliance and warned that even the high bill settlements to 2030 would only result in 44% of sewage overflows being overhauled.

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‘Paddle-out’ protest against water pollution

The Independent Water Commission, established by the government last year and led by former Bank of England deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe, is due to make final recommendations on the regulatory framework next week.

He warned when the interim report was published last month: “There is no simple, single change, no matter how radical, that will deliver the fundamental reset that is needed for the water sector.”

Alan Lovell, the EA’s chair, said: “This report demonstrates continued systemic failure by some companies to meet their environmental targets.

“The water industry must act urgently to prevent pollution from occurring and to respond rapidly when it does.

“We have made significant changes to tighten our regulation of the water industry and ensure companies are held to account.

“With a dedicated larger workforce and increased funding, our officers are uncovering and acting on failures to comply with environmental law.”

A spokesperson for industry group Water UK responded: “While there have been some improvements it is clear that the performance of some companies is not good enough. The Environment Agency is right to highlight underinvestment in infrastructure and maintenance as the major causes of these results.

“Investment in the sector has been suppressed with Ofwat prioritising short -term cuts to people’s water bills over the long-term resilience of the network. This is finally being put right, with a record £104bn investment over the next 5-years to secure our water supplies, support economic growth and end sewage entering our rivers and seas.

“However, fundamental change to regulation is also needed. We hope that the recommendations of the Independent Water Commission next week will ensure the sector continues to get the investment it needs to drive down pollution incidents.”

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