Tough stance: Prime Minister Theresa May, pictured at the closing of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, on Monday

EU migrants would need a job before entering the UK under post-Brexit border plans.

The regime will be more rigorous than the points-based system proposed by Leave campaigners, Government sources said last night.

David Davis, who is Cabinet minister for Brexit, said the UK was prepared to quit the single market to regain control over borders.

He told MPs that outright departure from the tariff-free zone was almost certain and Britain would strike alternative trade deals.

Yesterday Theresa May was forced to deny going soft on immigration following her apparent rejection of points-based entry rules. Aides said the Government was working on a far tougher system. Whitehall officials have been told that as a starting point EU citizens wanting to work in Britain must secure a job before setting foot here.

That would stop tens of thousands coming to these shores each year to trawl for often low-skilled employment.

Figures close to Mrs May’s top team are pressing the Prime Minister to bring in a full work permit regime in which migrants would be treated the same regardless of nationality. That would mean those from both inside and outside the EU would need to secure a job that a firm was unable to fill with a UK recruit.

In other developments on the day MPs returned to Westminster:

Mr Davis vowed there would be no ‘anti-democratic’ second referendum or vote by MPs to ratify the June 23 result;

The Prime Minister revealed China was among six states at the G20 summit expressing interest in trade talks with the UK;

The services sector, which includes everything from hotels and restaurants to accountants and lawyers, clocked up its best month for at least 20 years in August.

Post-Brexit plans: David Davis, who is Cabinet minister for Brexit, said the UK was prepared to quit the single market to regain control over borders. Pictured, Mr Davis in the Commons

Mrs May caused alarm among some Brexit supporters yesterday by saying there would be no points-based system for controlling immigration.

Used in Australia, this system was backed by five current Cabinet ministers during the referendum campaign, including Mr Davis, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox.

ASHDOWN'S BREXIT 'BROWNSHIRTS' SLUR Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown was criticised last night after comparing Brexiteers to Nazi paramilitaries. The Europhile peer declared on social media that the ‘Tory Brexit brownshirts are stirring’ after predicting that Theresa May would face accusations of ‘betrayal’ at the Conservative Party conference over her rejection of a points-based immigration system. But his use of the term ‘brownshirts’ – the Nazi Party paramilitary wing that helped Hitler’s rise to power – drew a welter of criticism. Conservative MP James Cleverly demanded an apology for the ‘disgusting’ slur. He responded to Lord Ashdown: ‘So I’m a Nazi now am I?’ Fellow Tory William Wragg, who backed the campaign to leave the European Union, accused Lord Ashdown of ‘hysteria’. He said: ‘If you’re going to dismiss those who campaigned for Leave as Nazis, which is by extension what he’s done, then it’s a bit contemptuous of the population and the result, regardless of what side he campaigned on.’ In later comments on Twitter, Lord Ashdown wrote: ‘Brownshirt-gate. Heavens! Even allowing for these over-heated times, do we really have to lose contact with the concept of the metaphor?’ Advertisement

Her comments fuelled concern the Government might be preparing to cut an deal with Europe under which EU migrants continued to get preferential access to Britain, in return for Britain still having membership of the single market – which guarantees tariff-free trade.

Italy yesterday made it clear that it was prepared to start a trade war with Britain in order to protect the rights of its workers to come here.

Carlo Calenda, Italy’s economic development minister, told Bloomberg TV: ‘The more they are going to regulate and limit the presence of EU citizens in the UK, the more we are going to limit the presence of UK goods into Europe.’

But, on Westminster’s first day back after the summer recess, Tory grandees made it clear that cutting a deal with Brussels on immigration would not be acceptable to the more than 17million people who voted for Brexit.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘The number one thing that is not negotiable is the UK retaking control of our borders. That is not negotiable in any deal.’

John Redwood, a Tory ex-minister, added: ‘Taking back control cannot be negotiated with the French, Germans and others. We take back control over those matters and we negotiate if they wish over trade.’

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Davis told MPs they should be in no doubt about the Government’s commitment to crack down on EU immigration, which has led to a decade of unprecedented arrivals.

He said: ‘What the Prime Minister said in China is very clear: she wants a results-based immigration system, one that actually delivers an outcome the British people voted for. She was concerned that a points-based system was actually too open ended.’

Flanked by Mr Johnson and Mr Fox, Mr Davis insisted there would be no attempt to ‘delay, frustrate or thwart’ the will of the British people for the country to leave the EU. Challenged on whether the Government would try to stay in the single market, he said all options were being looked at.

Pledge: Flanked by Boris Johnson, left, and Liam Fox, right, Mr Davis insisted there would be no attempt to ‘frustrate or thwart’ the will of the British people for the country to leave the EU

But he added: ‘If a requirement of membership is giving up control of our borders, I think that makes it very improbable.’

Officials are expected to hold meetings over the next two weeks to thrash out details of how a new immigration system will look and Mrs May yesterday refused to give details in public. She would only say: ‘I want a system where the Government is able to decide who comes into the country. That’s what the British people want.’

But Ukip’s Nigel Farage said: ‘Her rejection of the type of migration system so many went out there and voted Leave to see implemented indicates serious backsliding.’

Desperate: Migrants on the outskirts of The Jungle in Calais, France, on Monday