By Reuters Staff

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Wednesday there was credible, growing and troubling evidence of forced labour among Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region.

“Evidence of forced Uighur labour within Xinjiang, and in other parts of China, is credible, it is growing and deeply troubling to the UK government,” foreign office minister Nigel Adams told parliament.

Adams was responding to a BBC report which said some global clothing brands indirectly sourced cotton grown in the region.

Earlier this month, the United States banned cotton imports from a powerful Chinese quasi-military organization that it says uses the forced labor of detained Uighur Muslims.

Adams said firms had a duty to ensure their supply chains were free of forced labour.

Reporting by William James, editing by Estelle Shirbon