Thirty-two UK organizations call for mandatory human-rights due diligence
On October 21, Retail Gazette reported that 32 businesses, trade unions and campaign groups—including M&S, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Asos—urged the UK government to require companies to identify, prevent and address human-rights and environmental harm in their operations and supply chains.
Inside Practice · OCTOBER 23, 2026 · 1 MIN READ
On October 21, Retail Gazette reported that 32 businesses, trade unions and campaign groups—including M&S, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Asos—urged the UK government to require companies to identify, prevent and address human-rights and environmental harm in their operations and supply chains. The coalition, supported by the British Retail Consortium, Ethical Trading Initiative and Corporate Justice Coalition, argued that voluntary standards and the Modern Slavery Act leave accountability gaps; a Fabian Society estimate cited in the report put the annual UK economic cost of related harms at about £4.4 billion. Corporate counsel should read the intervention as evidence that parts of industry now prefer a mandatory baseline to uneven voluntary requirements. Even before legislation, procurement teams can reduce transition cost by aligning supplier mapping, grievance mechanisms and contract remedies with a risk-based due-diligence model.