Migrant workers suffering “modern slavery” in homes across Britain called on the House of Lords yesterday to take their final chance to set them free.

A handful of brave domestic workers took their fight to Westminster on World Human Rights Day with Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland.

The women risk deportation for speaking out because the Con-Dems banned them from changing employers by introducing the tied domestic worker visa in 2012.

Ms Holland told the Star: “We said right from the start that if you take away the right to change employer without being subject to deportation then you are introducing modern-day slavery.”

A Labour amendment to scrap the tied visa was only defeated at committee stage by the casting vote of the chair.

Ms Holland urged the government to take its last chance to do the right thing.

“There is still an opportunity for the government to show that they didn’t mean to reintroduce slavery,” she said.

The Con-Dems’ Modern Slavery Bill is currently in the Lords and is expected to pass through Parliament before the next election.

Minister for Modern Slavery Karen Bradley has insisted that the “terrible crime” will be stopped “in all its forms” by the Bill.

But Justice for Domestic Workers leader Marissa Begonia said: “We’re very disappointed with the current Bill.

“It is the domestic workers who are being criminalised and not the perpetrators of modern slavery.

“It’s not an improvement, so what’s the point of a review? To look good before the election?”

‘When I call she’s always crying’

Marissa Begonia described the plight of a domestic worker from Sri Lanka: “I could only talk to her at midnight on the phone. She has no day off.

“I rescued her from Brighton where she worked for three families in big houses.

“We found an employer for her and moved her to London but she is facing the same abuse here. She is only receiving £30 a month.

“She has children at home in Sri Lanka and when I call her at night time she’s always crying.

“I told her we’ll find her another employer but it’s so difficult to find an employer if you have no proper documents.

“The system criminalises them.”