The City watchdog faces a mounting backlash over its approval of Shein’s listing on the stock market.
Joshua Reynolds, a member of the business and trade committee, blasted the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for allowing the Chinese fast fashion giant to float on the London Stock Exchange.
He is the latest MP to criticise regulators over the plans amid concerns about a lack of transparency from Shein about its business practices and allegations of abuse in its supply chain.
‘Quite simply, Shein is not the kind of company we should be welcoming to our stock exchange,’ Reynolds wrote in a letter to FCA boss Nikhil Rathi, seen by the Mail.
He said the UK has a ‘proud history of standing up for human rights around the world’ but allowing Shein to list would ‘signal to the world that we are happy to sell out our values for the prospect of commercial success’.
Based in Singapore, Shein was founded in China and still relies on suppliers in the country to manufacture its cut-price T-shirts and dresses.
Concern: The Financial Conduct Authority faces a mounting backlash over its approval of Shein’s listing on the stock market
Human rights organisations have accused the Chinese government of allowing slave labour, saying Uyghurs – a mostly Muslim ethnic group – are forced to work in cotton production. Beijing has denied such claims and Shein insists it has ‘zero tolerance’ of forced labour. The online giant was hoping for a mega £50billion float in London but has reportedly come under pressure to scale back its ambitions to around £24billion – at a time when the City is losing companies to rivals.
Rathi, who was reappointed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves for another five years last month, has been urged to encourage more companies to list in the UK.
James Alexander, chief executive of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association, has said investors have ‘raised concerns repeatedly about being exposed to Shein’.
He added: ‘A race to the bottom on governance and standards will not help us in the long term, as it risks undermining the status of the UK as a high-quality financial centre.’
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