The is-it-happening-or-isn’t-it saga around Shein’s possible London IPO continues, but one thing is certain: the Labour Party that’s expected to win the UK general election next month said it will enforce the highest regulatory standards and would want Shein “regulated from the UK”.

Reports at the weekend had cast doubt on whether the IPO would ever get off the ground, but other reports late on Monday said the company confidentially filed its paperwork for the IPO earlier this month.

That’s not a guarantee that it will take place, of course, and approval from Beijing it still required.

Might Labour’s demand that the firm is subject to UK regulators make that approval harder to come by?

It’s hard to say for now, but Jonathan Reynolds, who’s likely to be the next UK business secretary, confirmed at the Bloomberg Business Debate in London on Monday that Labour has met with Shein. And he said it would want to ensure the “highest standards” from the company, “whether that is on labour market or regulatory compliance or tax”.

And current business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch said that while she hadn’t met representatives from the company herself, she wants to know that it’s addressing key issues. That includes reports of forced labour and also issues around the customs duty threshold.

This latter issue has received a lot of publicity with accusations that Shein is exploiting a tax loophole. Duties are payable on orders over £135 and companies can avoid big customs bills by shipping individual parcels directly to customers from abroad, rather than transporting the products in bulk to the UK and sending orders to shoppers from a local hub.