Beverley Hughes

Home Office minister Beverley Hughes has denied claims that the government is doing little to prevent women being forced into prostitution by human traffickers.

Her comments follow an interview with head of the London vice squad chief superintendent Simon Humphrey, in which he called for the issue to be higher up the political agenda.

"The vice trade is one which people can, if they wish to, turn a blind eye," he said, "but I fail to see how we as a mature society can turn our back on people."

He also predicted that more action would be taken if British women were the victims of the industry.

"I'm sure that that suggestion would be refuted but I cannot understand why it is not being treated more seriously at a political level at the moment," he said.

"Just because the majority of the women in this industry are from eastern Europe, it should not be a reason for not actually treating it with the utmost seriousness because we're dealing with crimes against humanity."

Beverley Hughes argued that the government was taking the issue seriously.

"I agree with Simon Humphrey that people trafficking is an absolutely appalling crime that has got to be tackled very robustly. Where I do disagree with him very strongly is that we are not doing that, because we are," she said.

"We have been developing now over the past two years with some of the chief superintendent's more senior colleagues a very comprehensive and sophisticated approach involving legislation, victim protection, enforcement and intelligence, so that we can actually tackle it.

"We are making it tough...we are doing all we can."

However, shadow international development secretary, Caroline Spelman, argued that "the government's complacency over human trafficking is well known".

"Every year hundreds of people are brought to Britain from places like eastern Europe and west Africa. Many of the victims of this cruel trade are young children or very vulnerable women. If we are to avoid tragedies, such as the Victoria Climbe case, the government must crack down on people smuggling," she said.

"A European-wide response is needed to stop this cruel trade. Many of London's prostitutes come from eastern Europe and are exposed to considerable dangers. If we are to tackle prostitution then we need to deal with the wider problem of people smuggling."

The Home Office highlighted Project Reflex, a multi-agency taskforce established in May 2000 to tackle people trafficking, which has disrupted 14 organisations and led to the arrests of 67 facilitators since April 2001.

In November 2000, the UK also signed a protocol on the issue in accordance with the UN convention on transnational organised crime, while new measures have also been included in the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill.