Modern Slavery

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 2:13 pm on 9 November 2022.

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Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 2:13, 9 November 2022

(Translated)

Thank you for that response. The Minister will know, I'm sure, that the UK Government has moved modern slavery recently from the Minister for safeguarding to an issue at the bottom of the list of the Minister for illegal immigration and asylum. A constituent has contacted me to voice concerns about this. She's concerned about the risk that it means for victims of slavery. She questions specifically how it's possible to justify doing this in the case of immigration when nearly a third of modern slavery victims are British citizens anyway. This could mean disregarding a great proportion of them.

Now, victim blaming, that's what the Home Secretary has done recently, saying that people are claiming to be trafficked in order to abuse or take advantage of the immigration rules—disgraceful comments that don't take any notice of the suffering that people face. But, unfortunately, we've come to expect no better from Conservative Home Secretaries. What steps can the Minister take in order to try and ensure that the support is maintained for victims of modern slavery in Wales, despite this decision by the UK Government?