AMBER Rudd appears to have rowed back from the idea that companies could be forced to list how many foreign workers they employed as the UK Government moves towards a “British jobs for British workers” policy.

Under the initial proposals UK businesses would have to “be clear about the proportion of their workforce which is international”.

But the home secretary today suggested - in the wake of concerns from businesses that employing foreign workers could under such a policy be seen as a “badge of shame” - that the idea of listing how many migrant workers firms employed was simply part of a consultation process.

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Stressing she hoped it would not come to a process of shaming businesses, Ms Rudd said that most firms took a very positive approach on how they employed people but some were not so constructive. “They are the ones we want to flush out here,” she insisted.

During her conference speech on Tuesday, the secretary of state said the UK Government’s approach was meant to pressure companies to take on more local workers and to “prevent migrants taking jobs British people can do”.

She told BBC Radio’s Today programme: “What we are saying is: work with us businesses to deliver on what we need to have, which is a more skilled local labour force.”

Asked what would happen if firms did not like what has been described as a “name and shame” system, Ms Rudd replied: “It’s a consultation.”

The home secretary pointed out how if firms wanted to recruit from outwith the UK, particularly outside the EU, they had to have a resident labour test. “They already have to demonstrate that they can’t get the right skills in the UK if they want to recruit from abroad.

“What we are doing here is saying: let’s take a look again to see if we have got the right balance; to see if some people are using it as a tick-box exercise rather than actually using it to recruit skills they have not got here.”

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Ms Rudd was asked whether or not she was nervous about the UK Government’s approach being deemed racist given former prime minister David Cameron described his predecessor Gordon Brown’s mantra of British jobs for British workers as a phrase “borrowed from the BNP”.

The home secretary said it was “disgraceful” that people could not talk about immigration without being accused of racism. “We should be able to have a conversation about immigration, about what skills we want to have in the UK and where we need to go out of the UK to recruit them in order to help businesses and boost our economy.”

She stressed she had approached the issue in a very thoughtful way but that society must “not shy away” from having a conversation about immigration and should adopt an attitude that “if we do talk about immigration, don’t call me a racist”.

The secretary of state insisted the purpose of the Government review was to see if businesses were doing enough to train people locally.

Noting how despite record low levels of unemployment, there was still one in 10 of 18 to 24 year olds across the UK out of work, she said: “I want businesses to think first about locally training people where possible.”

Ms Rudd also explained that what the UK Government wanted was the “best formula” for having EU workers coming to Britain.

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When it was suggested to her that while politicians argued for lower net migration, it was difficult to identify which groups, whether it be construction workers or health and social care staff, should be reduced.

“At the moment what we are doing is looking at what the best way is going to be to engage within the EU...but to protect the economy and keep, I hope, most of the people who are already here...Those conversations are not yet complete but we are going to act in a way that does support British workers,” she added.

On Tuesday, Theresa May said the target to get annual net migration down to below 100,000 remained the target but was unable to say whether it would be met by 2020. Ms Rudd stressed how it “would not happen overnight, it will take some time is the phrase. The key thing is to demonstrate that we are reducing net immigration and that will be my goal”.