Labour mulls policy change on EU workers Chuka Umunna, shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna, shadow business secretary, has said Labour is considering restrictions to one of the EU's key principles, free movement of labour, by limiting it to workers with firm job offers. In a significant policy change if confirmed, Mr Umunna called the proposals a return to the EU founders" intentions. It comes after restrictions on Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK were removed on January 1 and as Viviane Reding, the justice commissioner and deputy European Commission president, accused the British government of fuelling unjustified fears about Europe. Mr Umunna said on Thursday's BBC Question Time programme that Labour believed that "on low skill immigration we believe there was too much of it from the European Union." "I think there is one important thing about the European Union, the founders of the European Union had in mind free movement of workers not free movement of jobseekers," he said. And undoubtedly we do have to work with our European partners to deal with that. The shadow business secretary said he had discussed the restriction with some of Labour's European partners this week. "They are very open to that [idea] if we constructively engage with them, instead of saying, "Hey, do what we want otherwise we are going to walk off."" Ed Miliband, Labour leader, said last year he wanted to reduce migration of low-skilled workers to the UK, but only from outside the EU. David Cameron has called for curbs on EU migrants who are able to claim child benefit for children living in their home country. Speaking earlier on Thursday, Ms Reding said it was "simply not true" that there was an "invasion of foreigners"" into the UK who were stealing jobs and draining welfare and health resources. "Most of the things that are told to the people in Great Britain are myths and have nothing to do with reality," she told a web seminar on European citizenship. I ask help from all the reasonable speakers in Great Britain to calmly explain what are the optimum and what are the worst scenarios, also to explain what Europe is about and what Europe can do and what it can't do. I think there is one important thing about the European Union, the founders of the European Union had in mind free movement of workers not free movement of jobseekers She accused British political leaders using "populistic movements and populistic speech to gain votes." The discussion comes as the House of Lords debates on Friday whether the country should hold a referendum on Britain's EU membership in 2017. The bill has already passed the Commons but is potentially under threat from peers suggesting amendments that would scupper its chances of being passed. Explaining why he is proposing the bill, Lord Dobbs told the BBC on Friday morning: "Europe has become a poison in our political system, it dominates so much of our political dialogue. "This is about democracy, it's not about whether you're for or against Europe," he said. However, Labour's Lord Mandelson, a former EU commissioner and opponent of the bill, told the same programme that a referendum was a "lottery" and a "blunt instrument that should be handled with care." He said the UK should be seeking to reform EU structures rather than fighting over whether to leave the organisation. "We want to drive reform and change in Europe and not drive Britain out of Europe," he told the BBC. Threatening the rest of Europe with exit if we do not get what we want diminishes our ability to get what we want. They're not going to [get reform] with one hand on the handle of the exit door.