My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones in this tragic accident. I have visited many garment factories and high rise buildings during my visits to Bangladesh. Many of the buildings do appear to be of poor quality without emergency exits and this is an issue I have raised before. On my last visit I took part in an evacuation procedure to promote awareness of how to utilise equipment that may be deployed in an emergency.
UK stores import a great deal of garments from Bangladesh and it does seem that some of the factories in Bangladesh are death traps. I have written to Minister for Trade and Investment asking him to make a statement on what the Government is doing to ensure that people who source garments from these factories insist on a decent level of safety for workers, many of whom are women and children.