THE government’s failure to rein in human trafficking — described by the United Nations as the modern equivalent of slavery — is threatening to mar official plans to celebrate the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade.

As Labour plans £20m worth of events to mark the anniversary in March, the Home Office is preparing to release research in February that puts the number of trafficked prostitutes in Britain at 4,000.

The government had hoped the celebrations would be uncontroversial and would help divert attention from a more politically divisive milestone — the 300th anniversary of the union of England and Scotland. Now, however, ministers are being accused of hypocrisy for celebrating the campaign led by William Wilberforce, a Tory MP, 200 years ago, while failing to acknowledge their shortcomings in tackling trafficking.

A report by the UN has placed Britain in the top 30 countries that are destinations for adults and children being trafficked to work for “slave-masters” in prostitution, domestic labour and petty crime. Antonio Maria Costa, chief of the UN office on drugs and crime, has said: “The fact that slavery, in the form of human trafficking, still exists in the 21st century shames us all.”

The US Department of State has noted that Britain has a “problem of children trafficked into domestic servitude, particularly from West Africa”.

Lax control over immigration, combined with a reluctance among the authorities to pry into “culturally sensitive” areas, have been blamed as factors driving the rapid growth.

Home Office figures show the number of trafficked women has increased dramatically since Labour came to power. In 1998 between 142 and 1,420 trafficked women were working as prostitutes. For 2003, the latest figure available, officials put the number at 4,000: police and charities believe the true figure could now be far higher.

Detective Superintendent David Eyles, operational head of the Metropolitan police’s clubs and vice unit, said: “There has been a sea change. Five years ago, you would have found that 85% of women in brothels were British and the rest were foreign. Now it’s the opposite.”

The Tories plan to use the slave trade anniversary to draw attention to the modern-day plight of trafficking victims. One senior shadow minister, who did not wish to be named, said: “This smacks of hypocrisy.”

John Prescott, the deputy prime minister and a successor to Wilberforce as a Hull MP, is in charge of drawing up the plans to mark the anniversary in the week starting March 25.

The centrepiece will be a memorial service at Westminster Abbey, which Tony Blair is expected to attend. The celebrations will include a film about the life of Wilberforce, financed by the American billionaire Philip Anschutz. The tycoon is bidding to open a supercasino in the Millennium Dome.

The 2012 Olympics could see a rise in the trafficking of sex workers and labourers. “Where there are large influxes of young men there will inevitably be demand,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Nick Kinsella, head of the UK human trafficking centre.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said the increase in trafficking was mainly the result of lax border controls. “We are now a preferred destination for people traffickers,” he said. “There is no check on individuals as they arrive or leave which, combined with a very open society, provides ideal conditions for criminal activities of this kind.”

The authorities are giving the problem greater priority. Last year, Operation Pentameter, a four-month sweep against traffickers, found evidence that women were being traded for £3,000-£4,000, although virgins were sold for up to £8,000. They were forced to have sex with up to 30 men a day, earning their controllers about £100 a time.

One victim, a 24-year-old Albanian called Maria, was sold by her father when she was 15 and smuggled to Britain in a lorry. She said: “I worked every day, seeing 65 to 70 customers of all different nationalities. I was too frightened to ask them for help. My traffickers threatened to kill me and take my sister too. I was beaten often, very badly. I was raped many times.”

A total of 84 women and girls were rescued from brothels and parlours during the operation, including a girl of 14; 80 people were convicted for human trafficking offences.

Police admit, however, that the operation covered just 10% of brothels, saunas and massage parlours. A second operation is now being planned by the human trafficking centre, which will also investigate the exploitation of foreign workers.

The government last week rejected allegations of hypocrisy. Vernon Coaker, a Home Office minister, said: “We are determined to tackle trafficking from a law enforcement point of view and from a human rights, victim-centred approach. It is a priority.

“We have tightened the legislation with specific offences for sexual exploitation and labour exploitation, and we have built on Operation Pentameter. We are mindful of the support that we need to give to the victims of trafficking.”

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