Exploitation and human trafficking in the UK today: political debate, fictional representation and documentaries

Abstract

Britain in the late 1990s and most of the 2000s was presented as a remarkable economic success story underpinned by a flexible job market which, it was claimed, encouraged the creation of jobs and wealth. There was however a dark side to this image, with an emerging picture of a workforce at the bottom of the pile, made up mainly of international migrants, which was shamefully exploited, to the extent that fears began to be expressed that there was a significant amount of human trafficking and even forms of contemporary slavery underlying the general prosperity. The tragic death of some twenty Chinese “illegals” who were cockle-picking in Morecambe Bay in 2004 alerted public opinion to the issue and a number of reports and surveys focused on the issue. Films and novels also played a role in bringing this situation to life and thus generating further public interest. This article analyses these representations of exploitation and assesses their impact.