A government taskforce has been set up to stop the scourge of 'beds in sheds' - poor quality rooms and housing, often in gardens, set up by criminal landlords to exploit illegal immigrants.

Housing minister, Grant Shapps, and immigration minister, Damian Green, will today hold the first in a series of meetings with police, councils, the UK Border Agency and HM revenues and Customs, to find ways of closing down what the government has described as 'modern day shanty towns'.