Modern Day Slavery.

Most of us will have seen the recent reports, in the press and on TV, regarding the raid by immigration authorities on a farm near Credition this week in which a dozen failed asylum seekers were detained. You wonder what sort of lives these people were living out there in the wilds of mid Devon. Not for them, I suspect, a trip to the local Wetherspoons or a club in Exeter at the end of a working week as I would guess that had they dome so they would have stood out like a collection of sore thumbs and probably the pittance they were being paid would hardly have covered the taxi or bus fare. More likely all they got to see of our county was whatever part of the farm they worked on and the inside of some sort of dormitory.

Far too many people are still prepared to risk the massive fines that can be now imposed in order to attempt to profit from that particular form of cheap labour. They are prepared to use people who, unwisely have allowed themselves to be conned by other unscrupoulous operators into placing themselves into a modern form of slavery often owing those who facilitated their entry into the country sums they can never repay. We should also remember that agriculture is by no means the worst fate that can befall them as we know from the stories of the young and vunerable who have been dragged into the sex industry with no hope of escape. We should also remember those other slaves who produce the cheap clothing that we have all come to take for granted in recent years.

Economic slavery of this type should be unacceptable in the modern world whether it occurs in Canton or Crediton. We would all do well to remember that when making our purchases and wonder just a little at who produced the food on our plates this evening.