PM urged to make slavery laws harder to exploit despite warnings it could create more loopholes

Slavery laws must be strengthened to prevent fraudulent claims, Rishi Sunak has been warned.

This comes despite fears from Theresa May that such a move may create more loopholes for criminal gangs.

Jonathan Gullis, MP for Stoke-On-Trent, said: ‘The Act itself is being exploited by immigration lawyers so that illegal economic migrants can remain in the UK.’

Proposed changes mean case workers will now have to possess objective evidence of modern slavery, rather than a suspicion.

The Prime Minister has already pledged to ‘remove the gold plating in our modern slavery system’

But on Monday Mrs May – who introduced the Act while home secretary – said the changes would ‘create another potential loophole’ for criminal gangs to keep victims, who likely won’t have hard evidence, in slavery.

The Prime Minister has already pledged to ‘remove the gold plating in our modern slavery system’ in order to ‘significantly raise the threshold someone has to meet to be considered a modern slave’.

He told MPs: ‘One of the reasons we struggle to remove people is because they unfairly exploit our modern slavery system.’ This will mean case workers will now have to possess objective evidence of modern slavery, rather than a suspicion. 

Mr Gullis, a Red Wall MP who has consistently backed tougher border control, said reforming the Act ‘can break up the abhorrent people smuggling gangs and deter those seeking to cross the Channel illegally.’ 

More than 40,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year, including 90 on Christmas Day. 

A recent report from the right-wing think tank Centre for Policy Studies argued current modern slavery laws are being ‘unscrupulously abused’, adding: ‘Modern slavery legislation has become the first line of defence for many illegal immigrants, with the ECHR as their fallback position.’