The chairman of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority has complained about the level of resources his organisation has as it attempts to crack down on illegal gangmasters.

Paul Whitehouse made his comments on BBC Radio 4’s ‘The World Tonight’ during a report into the treatment of Latvian daffodil pickers in southern England.

He said: “We have not had the resources we would have liked and clearly in any enforcement activity it would be nice to have more resources. But we have only actually been enforcing since October last year and since that time we have refused 30 licences and revoked 32, two of those with immediate effect.”

The Labour MP Jon Cruddas has raised his concerns at the numbers of illegal gangmasters that appear to still be operating in the UK, despite the creation of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority after the Morecambe Bay tragedy that killed 23 Chinese cockle pickers in 2004.

Mr Cruddas said: “Truth be told, I am not particularly happy to say that ten years into a Labour government, and I am Labour MP, that this is allowed to happen. And it is allowed to happen.

“In many respects the use of migrant labour, all the patterns of inward migration, if you listen to the governor of the Bank of England, for example, have been a key ingredient in our macroeconomic successes over the last decade.”

He argued: “Well to me that is at the expense of basic conditions. I do not accept that economic model and we have got to do much more to choke off some of this.

“To me it is the most outstanding issue we face now: issues of democratic change, migration, abuse of migrant workers, ‘labour market flexibility’ as it is euphemistically known.”

Mr Cruddas concluded: “You can have a fair employment inspectorate. This is not beyond our imagination to resolve if we have the political will to do so.”
 

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