A bill designed to tackle illegal gangmasters, who control groups of unskilled workers, has become law.

Jim Sheridan MP (pictured) proposed the private member’s bill that called for gangmasters to be licensed.

The Gangmasters Licensing Act has been given Royal Assent and it is hoped the legislation will prevent abuses including slave wages and charging labourers for any safety equipment and accommodation.

Investigations into the deaths of 21 Chinese cocklepickers who drowned at Morecambe Bay in February revealed the dead were under the control of gangmasters.

Gangmasters have also reportedly been targeting recruitment firms in a bid to find labourers.

•A group of 14 cocklepickers was arrested in Wales last week on suspicion of being illegal immigrants.

Police swooped to arrest the workers at cocklebeds on the Menai Straits, near Bangor.

The raids targeted people who were exploiting illegal immigrants working as cocklepickers, north Wales police said.