What Michael is really referring to is about the practise of gangmasters. They were British businessmen who brought in illegal immigrants into the country, mostly in East Anglia to do crop picking. This practise has been going on for over 100 years. Successive governments knew it was going on and some of the general public. Nobody cared less because the benefits were cheap labour and cheap produce in the shops. When I said they were bringing in illegal immigrants, it wasn't just a few thousand, it was hundreds of thousands. The practise still goes on today but it is more regulated.
The gangmasters made vast profits and the immigrants got very poorly paid.
The first most people knew about gangmasters was when the cocklers died in Morcambe Bay.