More British people than ever before are being trapped in modern slavery, according to the latest available Home Office figures.  

A quarter of all referrals to the UK’s national modern slavery safeguarding scheme were related to British nationals.

Albanian and Vietnamese nationals were the second and third most referred, respectively.

But despite some police forces seeing a rise in charges for human trafficking, conviction rates remain proportionately low.

Sky News joined Greater Manchester Police on a raid at an abattoir, following intelligence claims that its owners were suspected of exploiting labour.

One alleged victim of modern slavery in the abattoir was living in conditions deemed “unsuitable for human habitation”, police said, just metres from where live animals were being slaughtered.

The man, who was brought to the UK on a legitimate skilled worker visa, told police he was then forced to work long hours for little or no pay.

“The area where our survivor was required to sleep was essentially a converted office space… next to the main slaughter hall,” DS Lee Attenborough, of Greater Manchester Police, says.

“It’s a noisy mechanised site, with a pungent smell from the activity that goes on here and is really not suitable for human habitation as far as we’re concerned.”

On this raid, police did not identify any additional suspected victims of modern slavery.

But authorities warn that these types of environments are typically where they find the most people who need their help.

Following the abattoir raid, a man and a woman, both in their 30s, were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking and an offence of slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour on Friday evening.

An Albanian national, also in his thirties, was arrested at the same abattoir after he tried to evade police, fleeing from the site and hiding on a nearby roof, DS Attenborough said.

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Darren Wright from the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority said: “Abattoirs, farms, takeaways – anywhere there’s money to be made you usually find exploitation.

“It’s all about telling these potential victims what support we can offer and what support we can offer to gain their trust.

“But by the very nature of the job, they are very distrustful.”

Energy giant Shell is due to install a multi-billion pound gas platform in the North Sea this spring despite being blocked from drilling, Sky News understands.

The Jackdaw field, which it is claimed could eventually power more than a million UK homes, has to get fresh approval from Downing Street to extract gas after a ruling this week by a Scottish court.

A judge in Edinburgh decided the previous Conservative government acted “unlawfully” when it gave consent to Shell’s Jackdaw and Rosebank, the UK’s largest untapped oilfield containing around 350 million barrels of oil.

The pair could eventually still proceed. But the court said the original assessments failed to acknowledge the impact of burning the oil and gas, rather than just from getting them out of the ground.

A ban on drilling is in place until new permissions are given.

Shell, which says it welcomes the decision, is continuing to prepare its platform which is currently in the final stages of construction in Norway.

The company has not confirmed its next steps, but it is understood the structure is due to be towed into British waters in the coming months by barge.

A Shell spokesman said: “The ruling rightly allows work to progress on this nationally important energy project while new consents are sought.

“We have spent more than £800m since the regulator approved Jackdaw in 2022.

“Swift action is needed from the government so that we and other North Sea operators can make decisions about vital UK energy infrastructure.”

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Rosebank is operated by Equinor and Ithaca Energy.

Sir Keir Starmer’s government says it will work “at speed” to reassess permissions.

The case creates a possible political quandary for the prime minister who pledged during the general election campaign not to issue new oil and gas licences.

Downing Street is currently on a well-publicised mission to improve economic growth in the UK and the oil giants, who have already invested hundreds of millions of pounds in these projects, will be hoping the political fallout of rejecting these licences would be too excruciating for Labour to bear.

There is still a way Labour could sign them off while still sticking to its election promise, as these projects already have licences, but just need final government consent.

The court ruling is being seen as a victory among climate campaigners.

Commenting on the decisions the prime minister now faces, Tessa Khan, executive director of the campaign group Uplift, said: “The government must reject it.

“To do otherwise would undermine its ambitious clean growth plans by sending a signal to investors that the UK isn’t serious about transitioning away from expensive oil and gas.”

An 18-year-old who crashed his car into a bus stop and seriously injured a four-year-old was sentenced to two years and two months in a young offenders institute.

James Doherty, 18, was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on Friday for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Judge Peter Blair described the teenager as an “idiot” whose “terrible driving” had led to the incident.

He was also banned from driving for four years and one month.

The court heard the teenager had arrived in England with his pregnant wife a week before the incident, had no driving licence or insurance, and purchased a BMW vehicle which had under-inflated rear tyres.

At around 2pm on 17 November, Doherty drove around a corner in the Lawrence Weston area of Bristol too fast and crashed straight into a bus stop.

A four-year-old boy who was waiting with his father and stepmother was left trapped under the vehicle, but Doherty and his wife, who was a passenger in the car, ran off from the scene.

Later that day, Doherty handed himself in at a local police station. He then pleaded guilty at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on 19 November.

During sentencing, Judge Blair said: “When you came round that corner, the rear of the vehicle that you had just acquired swung out.

“You countered that in an inappropriate way, which had you swinging the car right back across the road where there was a bus stop.”

The court also heard that when the victim’s stepmother asked Doherty’s wife for help to lift the car off him, she replied, “no”.

“That was extraordinarily culpable and utterly cowardly, for which you should rightly feel incredible shame,” the judge added, before explaining how the boy could have died from his injuries.

“He, in fact, has survived but he has suffered terribly in terms of pain through the treatment and the therapy that is going to be required for him for years.”

Prosecuting, Kaj Scarsbrook said the boy had injuries including collapsed lungs, a fractured pelvis, fractured ribs and a spinal fracture. His stepmother also sustained injuries to her leg.

The boy’s father told the court the incident’s effect on the family has been “indescribable”, and said he and the woman injured in the crash have experienced distressing flashbacks.

His stepfather also said in court: “This tragedy has affected our entire family. Emotionally, we are broken watching our child suffer every day.”

Doherty and his wife are expecting a baby, which is due to be born in April.

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Speaking after the case, Avon and Somerset Police’s senior collision investigator David Paniccia-Brown said “we feared the boy would not survive” the collision, but “fortunately he has pulled through”.

She added: “We want to thank the family for the dignity and composure they have shown throughout this upsetting case, the pain of which both mentally and physically will not end with any court sentence.”

The officer also thanked members of the public who helped free the boy from the vehicle, saying: “It was a hugely distressing scene but they showed kindness and selflessness in a time of crisis and that should be recognised.”