Future immigration from within the European Union needs to be more tightly controlled, UK Labour leadership contender and shadow children and education secretary Ed Balls has said.

Writing in the Observer, he said "too many" British workers had been affected by migration policies under Labour.

He called for temporary controls on the number of workers from Romania and Bulgaria to be extended.

He also criticised the coalition government for failing to address concerns about unskilled EU labour.

In his article, Balls, MP for Morley and Outwood in West Yorkshire, said high levels of immigration under Labour had had an impact on the pay and conditions of "too many people".

Balls said he was a "strong pro-European", but of the "hard-headed rather than romantic variety".

"There have been real economic gains from the arrival of young, hard-working migrants from eastern Europe over the past six years," he wrote.

"But there has also been a direct impact on the wages, terms and conditions of too many people - in communities ill-prepared to deal with the reality of globalisation, including the one I represent."

He added: "As Labour seeks to rebuild trust with the British people, it is important we are honest about what we got wrong.

"In retrospect, Britain should not have rejected transitional controls on migration from the first wave of new EU member states in 2004, which we were legally entitled to impose."

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