Dirty, ugly things

Sometimes fiction can be more accurate than published facts. Ten years ago a film, Dirty Pretty Things, told about the plight of illegal immigrants into Britain and the least-explored scandals of all: the black market trade in human organs. It was an aspect of Britain’s secret country, the black market occupied by a million-plus souls that produces a tenth of our economic output. Most of these people work illegally, perhaps in criminal endeavour or perhaps honestly, but in fear of immigration police. It is, by definition, an unregulated environment in which all manner of evil can be incubated. It is becoming clear now that one of these evils is the return of slavery.

The case of the Connor family, four Irish travellers who were given what the judge says is the first slavery conviction for 200 years, has given a single shocking glimpse into a world most of us had believed did not exist. They preyed not on illegal immigrants but Englishmen, picked up in motorway service stations or living on benefits in Brighton. They were then made to work in conditions similar, the court heard, to a ‘concentration camp’. As I say in my Telegraph column today, it says much about British society that someone can go missing for 15 years and have no one inquire about them. But as the Connors found out, Broken Britain has left lots of broken lives and vulnerable adults. The conditions, the court found, were a modern variant of slavery.

It’s tempting to write this off as a grotesque freak incident, but recently the Salvation Army said that its six-month-long work with trafficked people included eight Brits who had either been trafficked within England or abroad. The Centre for Social Justice, on whose advisory board I sit, is preparing a massive review into slavery which is due out in November. Already, CSJ researchers have been talking to police, social workers and all involved in trying to intercept modern slavery and help its victims. The phrase the CSJ researchers hear more often than any other is ‘tip of the iceberg’. We are only beginning to realise the extent of slavery, either forced labour or sex slavery. But, like deep poverty, it’s one of the subjects too grim for politicians to consider. In the same way that no one wears a wristband for the British poor, no one is likely to spend too much time worrying about a problem like slavery which sounds too bizarre to be true and is buried too deep underground to be evident.

When Blair decided to apologise for Britain’s role in the slave trade, he said he also wanted to give thanks for the better times we live in now. Even then, back in 2007, slave auctions were taking place in Gatwick Airport by bordello owners who would gather outside a coffee shop and bid for women who made it through immigration. William Wilberforce would recognise this instantly: it was a 21st century slave auction.

Politicians spend a lot of time trying to put bullets into corpses, re-enacting battles that other people won. And often they don’t realise the extent or severity of the new evils which do need to be addressed. In my column, I call for a Slavery Act to give police the powers they need. Right now, they can send 200 officers to break up a suspected trafficking ring and end up with 13 arrests but no convictions. The law is split between immigration, sex offences and the 2009 Coroners Act. A single act could clear up remaining confusion about the nature of slavery, and ensure that any police service which spent the staggering sums required to tackle it would be reimbursed.

Wilberforce outlawed the slave trade, but it was the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron which ended it. Muscle is required, not just laws, but Cameron needs to do more than just make speeches about it. There is much his government can do to tackle the growing case of British slavery, and his first step should be calling this evil by its name.