Gangmasters controlled the cockle pickers at Morecambe Bay

MPs backed a backbench bill which could now be on the statue books this year.

The MP behind the bill, Jim Sheridan, said he wanted to end the "kind of exploitation that left men and women to die alone, helpless and terrified".

The 20 died in February after being cut off by the tide prompting widespread outrage.

Mr Sheridan's bill, which now passes to the House of Lords, will introduce a licensing scheme to tackle people exploiting migrant workers.

Earlier this month the government was accused of failing to respond "sufficiently urgently" to illegal activities by gangmasters.

No closer

A report by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, said a lack of government action meant thousands of people were "vulnerable to both exploitation and personal danger".

Committee chairman Michael Jack said a single minister should be in charge of gangmaster activities. The committee published the report as a follow-up to its September 2003 inquiry into gangmasters.

Mr Jack said that despite recommendations from last year's report, "the government is no closer to having a clear picture of the scale and nature of the problem".

"Temporary workers operating in safe conditions and paying their taxes are of vital importance to British agriculture and horticulture today," Mr Jack said.

"If this labour is to operate safely in the future then the government needs to get its act together fast and appoint a minister with sufficient seniority to ensure that the elimination of illegal gangmasters becomes the story, rather than the tragedies of those who work for them."

Single minister?

The department for environmental, food and rural affairs committee responded to the report, saying it was "committed to tackling exploitation by unscrupulous gangmasters who have no respect for the law or for people".

"Abuse of workers by these unscrupulous gangmasters has gone on far too long," a spokesman said.

He added that the government had stepped up action against gangmasters, leading to prosecutions and imprisonments.

On the recommendation of appointing a single minister to oversee the issue, he said the department would consider it carefully.

"Action against illegal gangmasters cuts across the routine work and responsibility of several different departments and ministers."