As the government considers a ban on unpaid internships, Theresa May has been accused of pursuing a ‘purge of the posh’. Today Alec Shelbrooke appeared on Daily Politics to put forward the case for the ban.
Alas, things took a questionable turn when the Tory backbencher decided that there was an apt and fair comparison to be made between unpaid interns and… the victims of the slave trade. Yes, Shelbrooke suggested that doing a week or two’s unpaid work experience was comparable to being a victim of the slave trade.
In response to arguments from the IEA’s Kate Andrews that small business and charities may not be able to afford to pay all their interns — an would instead cut the programme if the bill was introduced — Shelbrooke said her arguments had been heard before ‘when we were banning the slave trade’. He went on to quote Charlie Mullins, the Pimlico Plumbers CEO Charlie Mullins: ‘I think it is a form of slavery – we just had a modern slavery act.
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