She set out how the UK is to spend £40million to help 500,000 vulnerable men, women and children who have either survived modern slavery or are at risk of becoming victims.

Part of the package will target problem sectors like the garment industry, fisheries and construction.

It comes after the Ethical Trading Initiative, funded by the Department for International Development, said 77 per cent of the firms it polled last year thought there was a likelihood of modern slavery occurring in their supply chains.

Ms Mordaunt said: “It is possible the clothes we wear, the electronics we use and the food we eat could be the product of child and forced labour in businesses’ supply chains around the world. In the world we live in, it is as easy to traffic people as drugs or guns and not enough is being done to tackle it. This is a global disgrace. 

“The only way for us to eradicate the practice is to tackle the problem in the UK and at its source, stamping it out of our economies.”

Asda, IKEA, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, British Airways, Nestle and Tesco were among firms named in the study.

The package of UK aid includes £13million to prevent trafficking and forced labour among women migrant workers in South Asia which has the highest prevalence of forced labour in the world, and will focus on victims of forced domestic work and garment manufacturing. 

And £20million to the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery in problem industries and £7million for victim support, awareness raising and law enforcement in Nigeria.

Ms Mordaunt also launched plans to get a million more disabled people into work in the UK in the next decade.