Labour has clashed with supermarket giant Tesco over claims made by a senior MP about recruiting foreign workers.

Shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant is to highlight the activities of Tesco in a speech attacking "unscrupulous employers" who recruit cheap labour from Eastern Europe.

In a speech today he will claim the supermarket moved its distribution centre to Kent where a "large percentage" of the staff are from the eastern bloc, it was reported.

But the supermarket denied having a distribution centre in the county and it is understood the firm will write to Labour to complain about the "unfair" attack.

According to extracts of the speech, Mr Bryant will acknowledge that immigration can have a negative effect on labour markets.

He will say: "The biggest complaint I have heard, from migrants and settled communities alike, is about the negative effects migration can have on the UK labour market. And I agree."

In his speech, which as well as targeting Tesco also contains criticism of high street chain Next, Mr Bryant will make it clear that neither firm has broken the law.

Tesco said it had recruited 350 local people to work in its distribution centre in Dagenham, which is in the east London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and was formerly in Essex, not Kent, and works incredibly hard to recruit from the local area.