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Amazon is facing fresh political scrutiny after an undercover investigation showed thousands of unsold products, including laptops, TVs, headphones and books – in some cases still in their packaging – being destroyed by the company.

The furore caused by the ITV News report led three Labour MPs, including the chairs of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) on digital skills and data poverty, to demand a meeting with John Boumphrey, the country manager UK at Amazon.

The destruction of unwanted laptops and tablets was incredibly damaging for the environment, they said, but also a “missed opportunity to help millions of people in the UK who do not have a device to connect to the internet”, said the letter, signed by Julie Elliott, Siobhain McDonagh and Darren Jones.

“It is incredibly concerning to see these devices being disposed of wilfully, at great loss to different charities and organisations that could do so much work repurposing them and distributing them to those that need them,” the letter adds.

McDonagh said it was a picture of “wanton waste”.

“You have the combination of them throwing away perfectly good things that people desperately need and treating their staff as badly as they do.  They seem to be almost like a nation state.  They’re impervious.”

The secret filming by ITV News in an area of Amazon’s Dunfermline warehouse called the “destruction zone” showed items ranging from computer equipment to hairdryers, power tools, books and even sealed face masks, being sorted into boxes labelled “destroy”.  ...