Alicia Kearns, chairman of the UK foreign affairs select committee, said that with the US and EU both passing laws to ban solar products made by Uyghur slave labour, many will end up in the UK where an estimated 98pc of solar panels are already Chinese made.

The warning comes at a crucial time for the UK’s burgeoning solar industry. The Government is about to publish its long-awaited Solar Roadmap committing the UK to a massive expansion of solar farms and domestic rooftop installations, from 18 gigawatts now to about 70 gigawatts by 2035.