Labour MP Chris Bryant backtracks in Tesco and Next immigration row Chris Bryant in reverse gear after backlash from big retailers Tesco and Next refute claims in pre-released extracts of big speech Bryant admits Labour 'made mistakes' on immigration and thousands more people moved to the UK as a result of open door policies He also confessed to being a 'permanent disappointment' to people Tories condemn 'badly confused' speech which contained no apology By Matt Chorley, Daniel Martin and James Salmon Labour's policy on immigration was mired in confusion today as frontbencher Chris Bryant backtracked on criticism of two of Britain's biggest retailers. The shadow borders minister had planned to use a major speech today to attack Tesco and Next for using cheap migrant labour to undercut local people. But after the retail giants hit back, the former Labour foreign minister went into reverse, declaring: 'I fully accept that Next and Tesco indeed often go the extra mile to try and recruit more local workers.' Disarray: Labour's immigration spokesman Chris Bryant had to rewrite his speech after Tesco and Next disputed claims made in pre-released extracts It has placed Labour at the centre of a new "British jobs for British workers row" over claims big firms deliberately target immigrant workers at the expense of British staff. In his speech Mr Bryant planned to attack "unscrupulous employers" who seem to "deliberately exclude British people," instead taking on cheaper staff from Eastern Europe. But in a BBC interview dealing with the political storm triggered by pre-released extracts of the speech, he insisted he was not planning to name any "unscrupulous employers" at all. He planned to accuse Next of printing job adverts only in Polish to attract cheap labour, and say Tesco moved a distribution centre from Harlow in Essex to "Kent," where a "large percentage" of the staff are from the eastern bloc. Notably, Tesco does not even have a depot in Kent - and Mr Bryant claimed he did not know how the error had found its way into his speech. Admission: Mr Bryant conceded that Labour made mistakes on immigration And Next said the only reason it employs workers from Poland is because local people refuse to apply for seasonal work. A spokesman for Next said: 'Mr Bryant wrongly claims that Polish workers are used to save money. This is simply not true. We are deeply disappointed Mr Bryant did not bother to check his facts with the company before releasing his speech. The policy mess is particularity embarrassing for Labour coming at a time when leader Ed Miliband is under fire from his own MPs for failing to make clear to voters where he stands on the big issues of the day. The spat will also revive memories of Gordon Brown's first speech as Prime Minister, in which he reacted to uncontrolled migration from Eastern Europe by promising "British jobs for British workers" - a pledge he could not keep. In his speech Mr Bryant admitted: ' Labour made mistakes on immigration. When we came to power in 1997 we had to tackle the complete chaos in the asylum system, when just fifty members of staff were dealing with 71,000 asylum applications every year. Labour created the position of Immigration Minister to bring real focus to these issues right across government. But although we were right to introduce the points based system in 2008, we should have done that far earlier. And when the new A8 countries joined the EU we were so focused on economic growth that when Germany, France and Italy all put in transitional controls on new EU workers, we went it alone. A far higher number of people came to work here. But Tory Immigration Minister Mark Harper said: 'Labour still won't say sorry for the uncontrolled immigration they allowed, they still won't say that immigration is too high and they still won't say that numbers need to come down. 'This badly confused speech shows that Labour haven't changed. They still have no idea how they would bring numbers down and they have no credibility on immigration. Ahead of his speech, Mr Byant told BBC Radio 4: 'The difficulty is, I would say, that the way we regulate our economy and the labour market in the UK has meant that sometimes there are negative sides to migration in terms of the labour market, in particular for those who are within spitting distance of the national minimum wage. 'The very simple point is that both Tesco and Next have had to use non-EU nationals in their new operations - in Next's case, two summers in a row in relatively large numbers. Labour's shadow immigration minister admitted to being a 'permanent disappointment' after generating headlines for all the wrong reasons. Chris Bryant, a former Curate who became Europe minister under Gordon Brown, had hoped to seize the political initiative with his big speech on immigration. But his hopes of promotion in Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet reshuffle, expected next month, suffered a serious setback with his gaffe-laden performance. Challenged during a Q&A about how the row over Tesco and Next had overshadowed the speech, Mr Bryant replied: 'Listen, I've disappointed so many people in my life I'm quite used to being a permanent disappointment, I'm really not troubled by that.' He also seemed uncertain about rumours that he could be sacked in the reshuffle. 'I'm not going to speculate on my future,' Mr Bryant said. My question is, and always was going to be, and still remains today, when we have one million unemployed youngsters under the age of 24 in this country, and we have a very high level of long-term unemployment, is there a way in which we can regulate labour markets in this country better so that foreign migrant workers are not exploited, as happens in some cases? I am not saying that specifically about Tesco and Next. In his hastily re-written speech, he said Tesco was a "good employer" which "tried to recruit locally" and only sought "reassurance" for the supermarket's staff about what happens when jobs are moved to different sites. On Next, Mr Bryant called for "assurances and demonstrating what they are doing to train and recruit local staff - particularly the young unemployed - even for temporary posts, rather than using agencies that only bring workers in from abroad." According to pre-released extracts of the speech, Mr Bryant had planned to turn his guns on Tesco and Next. "Take the case of Tesco, who recently decided to move their distribution centre in Kent," an advance copy of his speech said. Kevin Green, chief exeuctive of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, said: 'There was a distinct lack of substance to Chris Bryant's speech today and he had no clear evidence to show that British businesses have failed to comply with the current legislation around immigration and employment.' Speaking on the BBC, Mr Bryant said he had always meant to refer to Tesco's distribution centre in Essex, rather than Kent. 'I don't know where Kent came into it,' he said. It was always Essex. Mr Bryant also planned to accuse Next of printing leaflets in Polish to attract workers from the country.