DOWNING Street has dismissed a claim from the French European affairs minister that the UK had an economic model of “quasi-modern slavery” involving illegal work over its new immigration bill.

Clement Beaune hit out at Priti Patel’s Nationality and Borders Bill which would turn back migrant boats at sea.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We don’t agree with that. Of course, in a broader sense we have acknowledged that we do need to fix our broken asylum system so that we can stop this parallel illegal route being exploited and break these criminal gangs who are exploiting vulnerable people.

“That’s why we are driving through the changes in our Nationality and Borders Bill.”

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The spokesman added: “We have a strict regime and all those seeking to work in the UK must show documentary evidence of their right to do so before an employer can hire them.”

Brought forward by the Home Secretary, the Bill is now at the report stage in Westminster, in preparation for its third reading. A date for that is yet to be set.

No 10 also said Boris Johnson told Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo that a UK-EU returns agreement is needed if the business of people trafficking across the Channel is to be stopped.

Downing Street said that during a video call, the two leaders signed a UK-Belgium joint declaration on bilateral co-operation, designed to enhance joint work in areas such as trade, green technology, security, health and tackling illegal migration.

A spokeswoman said: “On illegal migration, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of breaking the business model of people traffickers by establishing a UK-EU returns agreement and using all the modern technology at our disposal.

“The leaders agreed that recent tragic incidents underscore the need to make urgent progress in this area.

“The Prime Minister reaffirmed the UK’s desire to work together with Belgium and other European partners to achieve this, and the leaders agreed their respective ministers should meet soon to progress this work.”

It comes as MPs and peers said the Government should scrap the bill as turning back migrant boats at sea is likely to breach human rights laws.

Pushbacks are “not the solution” to curbing Channel crossings and would “do the opposite of what is required to save lives”, the Joint Committee on Human Rights warned.

It described the proposed legislation as “littered” with measures which are “simply incompatible” with the UK’s international obligations.

Committee chair Harriet Harman said: “The Government is determined to prevent these crossings, but pushbacks are not the solution. They will not deter crossings, the seas will become even more dangerous and the people smugglers will continue to evade punishment.

“Current failures in the immigration and asylum system cannot be remedied by harsher penalties and more dangerous enforcement action.

“The bill is littered with measures that are simply incompatible with human rights law and the UK’s obligations under international treaties.

“That is why we have called on the Government to amend the bill by clearly setting out how any new measures can be carried out with respect to human rights law. Any measures that cannot meet these standards should be removed from the bill completely.”

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The legality and effectiveness of the tactic has been repeatedly called into question ever since it was first proposed, with campaigners threatening legal action against the Home Secretary.

But Patel has insisted the plan has a “legal basis”, although the Home Office’s permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft previously conceded that only a “small proportion” of boats could be turned back.

The committee’s report said: “A policy of pushbacks would likely be incompatible with the UK’s obligations under international human rights law and maritime law.

“Pushbacks are known to endanger lives at sea.”