Bryant Attacks Tesco Over 'Unfair' Migrant Use Labour's Shadow Immigration Minister Chris Bryant has spoken out against two of the UK's biggest retailers, saying it is "unfair" of them to target and recruit foreign workers over Britons. He says he does not regret using Tesco and Next as examples of companies favouring foreigners - despite both retailers issuing strong denials. But Mr Bryant appeared to soften his stance in a speech in central London as it showed some differences compared with the version briefed to Sunday newspapers. After his speech, Mr Bryant denied he had backtracked on his criticism of Tesco and Next. He said: "I'm not backtracking - I'm saying a very simple thing and I've been saying it all weekend. I'm not saying that Tesco and Next are unscrupulous employers, I've never said that and never intended to say that. But I do think that there is a problem that we have one million young unemployed people in this country, under the age of 24. We've got areas of very high unemployment, where youngsters for instance are 23.8% unemployed and yet good employers like Tesco and Next have to resort and maybe resort too early to recruiting from outside the country. Labour has become embroiled in a deepening row with the retailers over the claims both companies favour Eastern European workers over Britons. In the speech, Mr Bryant maintained that the companies need to work to train and support young British people. Mr Bryant claimed Tesco favours foreign workers over Britons "Unscrupulous employers should not be allowed to recruit workers in large numbers in low-wage countries in the EU, bring them to the UK, charge the costs of their travel and their sub-standard accommodation against their wages and still not even meet the national minimum wage," he said. In his speech Mr Bryant also praised Tesco as "a good employer and an important source of jobs in Britain." But he suggested the supermarket giant needed to provide more assurance about its recruitment practices at its Dagenham distribution centre. Tesco are clear they have tried to recruit locally. And I hope they can provide more reassurance for their existing staff. But the fact that staff are raising concern shows how sensitive the issue has become," he said in his speech to the IPPR centre-left think-tank. He also acknowledged that firms like Next sometimes needed to employ workers on short-term contracts, but questioned its reliance on workers from Poland. "Now, of course, short-term contracts and work are sometimes necessary in order to satisfy seasonal spikes in demand," he said. But when agencies bring such a large number of workers of a specific nationality at a time when there are one million young unemployed in Britain it is right to ask why that is happening. One of the passages cut from the speech claimed that staff at Tesco's original distribution centre had been told "they could only move to the new centre if they took a cut in pay. A large percentage of the staff at the new centre are from (the) Eastern bloc. Mr Bryant also scrapped a section claiming Next employed Polish workers to avoid agency workers' regulations, which apply after a candidate has been employed for more than 12 weeks, "so Polish temps end up considerably cheaper than the local workforce, which includes many former Next employees."