UNION leaders, campaign groups and food retailers have marked the second anniversary of the Morecambe Bay cockle tragedy by urging the Government to end "uncertainty" over an Act aimed at preventing any similar incidents happening again.

A letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair said the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act faced "significant delay" because of uncertainty over which businesses would be covered.

The Government was urged to end the uncertainty by making it clear that exclusions from the legislation will be kept to a minimum.

"We urge you to make it clear to all departments that your Government's policy with regard to this Act is unambiguous. Exclusions must be kept to a minimum; food processing must not be removed from the scope of the Act and the timetable for issuing licences must be adhered to.

"We sincerely hope that you will take the opportunity of this important anniversary to restate your commitment to this new law so that we can move forward, united in our resolve to tackle the serious abuse of workers by illegal labour providers," said the letter.

Among those who signed the letter were Tony Woodley, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, Paul Kenny, acting general secretary of the GMB and Andrew Opie of the British Retail Consortium, as well as supermarket chains.

The new law is aimed at improving the rights of an estimated 600,000 temporary workers, following the deaths of 23 Chinese workers at Morecambe Bay.