Hospitality firms could be named and ‘shamed' for prioritising foreign workers over nationals

Hospitality businesses could be named and shamed under new plans drawn up by the home secretary to require companies to reveal the number of foreign staff they employ.

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference on Monday Amber Rudd said that the scheme would be designed to pressure companies into taking on more local workers and "prevent migrants taking jobs British people can do".

She added that the Government would be "examining whether we should tighten the test companies have to take before recruiting from abroad" and that she aimed to reduce net migration from 327,000 a year to less than 100,000.

The proposals will be of concern to hospitality businesses, many of whom rely on a high proportion of foreign workers.

Last month British Hospitality Association chief executive Ufi Ibrahim said the organisation was "asking the Government not to push our businesses to a cliff edge on immigration".

Responding to the home secretary's speech CBI deputy director-general Josh Hardie said: "British companies invest £45b a year training workers in the UK. But there are skills gaps right now and if firms do not fill them they cannot grow and spread prosperity.

"We understand public concern and why it's important to control immigration but the Government should be working in close partnership with business to create a system that works, rather than layering on more bureaucracy at a time where the country needs to be open for business."

Rudd said that she would be prepared to name and shame businesses who did not meet her tests on employing local candidates.

The news comes as new research has found that the hospitality sector is facing a staffing crisis, with nearly three quarters of hospitality employers struggling to recruit staff.

The survey by The Caterer, carried out in partnership with temporary staffing specialist Lola Staffing, carried out in August 2016 showed a sharp 12 percentage point rise in the number of employers who said it was "very difficult" to recruit hospitality staff at their company (29% of employers chose this option up from 17% in the previous quarter).

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