Firms to be hit with new tax for hiring foreign workers instead of employing young British

Firms which rely on cheap workers from abroad face being hit with a new tax under plans to encourage bosses to hire young Brits.

Home Secretary Theresa May is to consult on a new visa levy which would be used to fund apprenticeships for young people from Britain and the rest of the EU.

The plan emerged as the Queen's Speech set out plans for a fresh crackdown on immigration, designed to stamp out exploitation of illegal workers.

Latest figures show net migration hit 318,000 in 2014, three times David Cameron's target of 'tens of thousands'.

Home Secretary Theresa May, pictured today with Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, is to consult on a new visa levy which would be used to fund apprenticeships for young people from Britain and the rest of the EU.

Some 284,000 came to Britain in search of work last year, 70,000 more than in 2013. 

Latest figures also show that in the year to January to March, the number of EU nationals in work rose by 283,000, higher than the 279,000 rise in British nationals who had a job.

Ministers say they want to deter companies from hiring workers from around the world by imposing a fee on businesses who refuse to employ local people.

The Queen announced that 'measures will be introduced to control immigration', which will include reforming immigration and labour market rules to reduce the demand for skilled migrant labour and crack down on the exploitation of low skilled workers.

Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said: 'Foreign nationals who abuse our hospitality by committing crimes in the UK should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them - the forthcoming Immigration Bill will include legislation to use GPS satellite technology to tag foreign national offenders whom we are seeking to deport when they are released on immigration bail.

'We take our duty to protect the public very seriously - we have removed more than 23,000 foreign criminals since 2010.

'In the vast majority of cases where people have been released into the community their release was ordered by an immigration judge despite our strenuous objections.

'We have toughened the law by cutting the number of grounds on which criminals can appeal deportation and speeding up removals so that more are deported before the end of their sentences. More than 800 people have been removed under these tough new 'deport first, appeal later' provisions.'