Photograph by Lewis Clarke
Labour’s shadow immigration officer Chris Bryant has accused two of the UK’s biggest retailers, Tesco and Next, of favouring Eastern European workers over Britons.
Bryant’s comments come from a leaked speech he was due to give today where he says he wants to “refocus the economy” so companies would not have to “bring in workers”.
Bryant claims that Tesco moved its distribution centre to Kent where it could find a large proportion of workers from Eastern European countries. Workers from the previous site were then reportedly told they could only keep their jobs at the new centre if they took a pay cut.
Bryant also accuses Next of recruiting temporary workers from Poland to staff its South Elmsall warehouse in Yorkshire for its seasonal summer sale to avoid agency worker regulations.
Both Tesco and Next have denied that they look for Eastern European workers, with Next claiming they only recruited people in Poland because they could not find sufficient local workers to fulfil their demand.
Bryant is now expected to have amended his speech to reflect discussions with Tesco and Next for its final delivery.
