MPs slammed Mike Ashley today – but have finally accepted his invitation to visit the Shirebrook warehouse
MPs investigating the working conditions at Sports Direct's Shirebrook warehouse have finally accepted Mike Ashley's invitation to see the site for themselves.
Ashley has been desperate for the Business, Innovation and Skills (Bis) committee to visit the warehouse, presumably because he hopes they won't think it's that bad. If you're wondering how bad it was, read this testimony from workers.
Read more: Four of the most jaw-dropping working practices at Sports Direct
The Bis committee has previously refused, but said today: "We thank Mr Ashley for his invitation to visit Shirebrook, which we shall certainly accept. We hope that this will be the start of a constructive dialogue, in which we will receive regular updates on Mr Ashley's review.
"We hope we share with him a common aim that the outcome of this work will be better terms and conditions for all those working on Sports Direct."
The RSVP from MPs comes in the Bis committee's damming report into the jaw-dropping working practices at Sports Direct, which includes stories of how women were forced to talk about their periods publicly and workers were made to stay overtime without getting paid.
The MPs said they had considered Ashley's first invitation "but declined it in the interests of our commitment to transparency in accordance with normal select committee practice of holding evidence sessions in public."
They expressed their irritation that Ashley had initially refused to meet them in Parliament, saying: "If he had agreed to come when we originally asked him, five months ago, he could have improved the conditions sooner, conditions he found so abhorrent."