This damning report shows Boohoo has known about unacceptable working conditions in its Leicester factories for years, but has failed to take the necessary action anywhere quickly enough.
Ms Levitt says the company’s processes are well below expected standards, corporate governance is weak and substantial areas of risk have been invisible at a senior level.
Whilst Boohoo was quick to capitalise on the commercial opportunities offered by lockdown it took no responsibility for the consequences for the people who made their clothes. The report rightly says this is inexcusable. Ms Levitt concludes ‘in truth Boohoo has not felt any real responsibility for the factory workers in Leicester’.
Leicester’s MPs and the City Council have repeatedly raised these issues but our concerns have been brushed aside, downplayed or ignored. The Chief Executive of Boohoo is ultimately responsible for these failings and should now resign. Boohoo’s board must set out – as a matter of urgency – how it will ensure the poor and even illegal treatment of workers throughout its supply chain never happens again.
Ministers must also take responsibility for their failure to implement the recommendations of numerous inquiries into worker exploitation and for slashing the budgets of the very enforcement bodies that are supposed to keep workers safe.
This report must be a turning point for action and we, as the local MPs for Leicester, will be holding the government and Boohoo to account for their response.
