Skip to main content
Advertise with the Morning Star
Leicester’s garment industry crisis is a microcosm of the global assault on workers’ rights
The government has underfunded the Health and Safety Executive and allowed zero-hours contracts and poor pay to flourish. No wonder workers are at risk of Covid-19, says CLAUDIA WEBBE MP
A man wearing a protective face mask walks past artwork in Leicester

WHEN I was elected as member of Parliament for Leicester East, ending workplace exploitation was — and remains — one of my most important priorities. 

Leicester has the largest number of garment workers in the UK. There are an estimated 1,500 garment manufacturing businesses in the city, employing around 10,000 people, the majority of whom are women from migrant communities. 

A recent study by HM Revenue and Customs found that, over a six-year period, a quarter of all UK textile factories caught failing to pay the minimum wage were based in Leicester, with some textile factories reportedly offering less than £3.50 an hour.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
HEAVY-HANDED: Cops arrest a peaceful protester at Parliament Square last weekend
Features / 10 September 2025
10 September 2025

The Met Police arrested a staggering 890 people, many elderly, disabled, and even blind in a single demonstration — all to back up the government’s unhinged campaign against non-violent civil disobedience at the behest of Israel, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE

Palestinians walk on an area at a makeshift tent camp located next to buildings destroyed during Israeli air and ground operations, in Gaza City, August 23, 2025
Features / 26 August 2025
26 August 2025

CLAUDIA WEBBE says a UN agency’s finding that Gaza’s famine, killing up to 400 people a day, is entirely man-made must prompt a renewed revolt against our government’s complicity in this horror

Diane Abbott speaking at the People's Assembly Against Austerity protest in central London. Picture date: Saturday June 7, 2025
Labour Party / 31 July 2025
31 July 2025

Starmer’s decision to suspend Diane Abbott yet again demonstrates a determination to maintain and propagate a hierarchy of racism, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE

Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a rally at the Hotel & Gaming Trades Council headquarters in New York, July 2, 2025
Features / 15 July 2025
15 July 2025

The New York mayoral candidate has electrified the US public with policies of social justice and his refusal to be cowed. We can follow his example here, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE

Similar stories
DAMAGING AGENDA:
Work and Pensions
Secretary Liz Kendall
Features / 24 February 2025
24 February 2025
Labour is deliberately continuing Tory policies that cost us £38 billion more than they save while driving illness rates higher — despite the evidence that previous sanctions doubled suicide attempts, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
Wes Streeting gives a speech at the Fabian Society
Features / 10 February 2025
10 February 2025
The Labour Party, once the proud architect of our health service, has become its undertaker, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
RAGE: Locals confront police 
guarding the Holiday Inn 
Expr
Features / 17 December 2024
17 December 2024
While Starmer courts BlackRock and backs genocide, leading to despair and historically low voter turnout, the vultures of the new populist right circle Britain’s crumbling institutions, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
PAWNING BRITAIN: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with Black
Features / 3 December 2024
3 December 2024
Keir Starmer’s BlackRock enthusiasm is a clear give-away for Tory continuity plans, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE