Shoah survivors Ruth Barnett and Dorit Oliver Wolff have warned that the UK is “not doing enough” for Uyghurs as trade ties with China face growing scrutiny.

“Trade is not worth the price of a people,” they wrote in a letter on Tuesday calling for a meeting with the prime minister. “We simply cannot stand by when others remain silent.”

“We cannot stand by whilst we carry on business as usual. Please meet with us ahead of the vote on the genocide amendment to discuss the changes we urgently need to see.”

 Ms Barnett and Ms Wolff  - both honoured by the Queen in 2019 - also made their appeal to Boris Johnson in a short video posted on social media. 

 Beijing faces widespread claims of human rights abuses, including allegations of forced labour and sterilisation, which it denies. It also continues to claim that detention camps in its Xinjiang province where many Uyghurs have been held offer vocational training.

The government suffered a heavy defeat in the House of Lords on Tuesday, as peers voted by 367 to 214 in favour of a mechanism allowing a parliamentary panel of former judges to determine whether a trade partner has carried out a genocide. 

The bill will now return to the House of Commons. 

Lord Alton said he had “tweaked” the original proposal to empower courts to rule on genocide in a “genuine attempt to meet the Government half way.”

A No 10 spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister thanks Ruth and Dorit for their letter and will be responding. 
 
“As the Prime Minister has said, the human rights violations being carried out against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang are utterly abhorrent and we will continue to do our utmost to end these abuses.
 
“Genocide is a crime and, like other crimes, whether it has occurred should be decided by competent courts and judges. 
 
“The proposed amendment to the trade bill could embroil the courts in the formulation of trade policy and international relations, and risked undermining the separation of powers.”