A major Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) investigation has uncovered the horrifying extent to which slavery haunts modern Britain.

It Happens Here, an 18-month study that was published yesterday, has already been hailed by experts as a roadmap for stamping out a vile crime that sees adults and children bought and sold as commodities.

The report, which has received widespread media attention both in the UK and overseas, criticised an “inadequate” Government response – saying that there was a glaring lack of leadership and revealed how authorities are often "clueless" about the extent of the problem.

The investigation discovered a litany of cases where adults and children are trafficked into and within the UK and subjected to forced labour, sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and criminality.

Christian Guy, the CSJ’s Director, said: “Our once great nation of abolitionists is a shameful shadow of its former self. The CSJ’s research has uncovered a shocking underworld in which children and adults, many of them UK citizens, have been forced into lives of utter degradation – but the authorities are either failing to understand the nature of this abuse or turning a blind eye to its existence.”

He added the report was “a message of hope”, and if implemented could lead the fight against this abuse.

Amongst more than 80 recommendations, the CSJ has called for a new Anti-Slavery Commissioner to be established to provide much-needed leadership and to hold the Government to account. The report also calls for a new Modern Slavery Act.

It highlights how in many cases modern slavery victims are treated as illegal immigrants and the report therefore calls for the UK Border Agency to be stripped of its lead role in ruling on suspected cases of human trafficking. It Happens Here also calls for frontline staff to be given better training in identifying modern slavery victims and for big business to play its part in eradicating this abuse.

At Monday’s launch, Professor Kevin Bales, a world-renowned expert on modern slavery and co-founder of Free the Slaves, said the CSJ report was unrivalled across the globe as a blueprint for root-and-branch reform.

Other speakers at the event included Frank Field MP, Spectator editor Fraser Nelson and Andrew Wallis, CEO of Unseen who also chaired the CSJ’s working group on slavery. Mr Field said It Happens Here could be a "turning point" in the UK’s attempts to tackle modern slavery, and urged politicians to put party politics to one side and unite to develop an effective strategy.

See some of our national media coverage: BBC, Sky News, Channel 4, Observer, Sunday Times (£), Press Association, Daily Mail, Express, Huffington Post and Mirror. Listen to analysis of the report on BBC Radio 4's World this Weekend and the BBC World Service's Newshour. Read Christian Guy’s blog on the Spectator’s Coffee House.

Click here to see a video and photographs of the report launch.