MY conscience is clear in that I have nothing to do with slavery. I have nothing to apologise for.

Years ago, greedy businessmen were the culprits, just as they are today. Slavery exists today - tea and coffee plantation workers are slaves. Tea and coffee is too cheap. These plantation workers must be paid more.

Also, workers in the call centres in India are paid peanuts, so the owners and shareholders can be richer. The shareholders need to speak out. Will they? I doubt it.

Not forgetting the farm workers in Lincolnshire, who live in caravan parks, who are mainly Polish and East European and are paid the minimum wage. They too are slaves, picking vegetables and flowers. It is not easy work. The English will not do that work because other jobs are better paid, and some prefer living on benefits because there is little other employment in Lincolnshire. I understand some can be better off on benefits than toiling in the fields all hours of the day for the minimum wage.

The workers in the fields must be paid more. We must pay more for tea, coffee, fruit, vegetables and flowers, because we can afford to. As an example, I can buy a box of teabags at the shop for a pound. The shop makes a profit, the wholesaler makes a profit, the plantation makes a profit, so just how little must the workers be paid? It seems some of us have a conscience and many do not.

Andrew Barlow, Dorset Street, Bolton