Recruitment agencies will be banned from advertising jobs exclusively overseas and the period for which European migrants can claim benefits is to be halved, Prime Minister David Cameron is to announce today, reports The Mail Online.

Mr Cameron said the crackdown was the latest attempt to reverse a “soft touch” approach adopted by the previous Labour government, who he accused of “practically sending out search parties” for people to come to Britain.

He claimed so-called “highly skilled” migrants allowed in under the last government had ended up “stacking shelves”.

In January, the Government introduced rules that meant European migrants had to wait three months before they could claim out-of-work benefits, and then could only claim for a maximum of six months.

Mr Cameron said the claim period will be cut from six months to three months from November and applied to jobseekers’ allowance, child tax credit, and child benefit.

The Government will also prohibit recruitment firms from advertising British jobs elsewhere in the EU without also doing so in the UK in English. Agencies have been accused of recruiting only foreign workers for specific shifts, for jobs such as fruit picking and hotel work, without even offering a chance to UK citizens.

Mr Cameron stated: “We will be reducing that cut-off point to three months, saying very clearly: you cannot expect to come to Britain and get something for nothing.”

Labour’s home affairs spokesman Yvette Cooper said: “We need less talk from the Prime Minister on immigration and more action. It’s almost a year and a half since Labour called for benefit restrictions on new migrants. In that time we’ve had re-announcement after re-announcement from the Tories but little in the way of firm action.”