British people should get the “best British jobs” no matter what the outcome of the EU renegotiation, business minister Nick Boles has said.

In the wake of the historic Brexit vote there have been suggestions Britain will try to stay in the single market – and this is likely to mean it cannot opt out of the free movement of people.

Responding in the Commons to a question from Labour MP Jonathan Reynolds, Mr Boles said immigration was one of the “chief concerns” of voters when they cast their ballots.

He said: “There are no changes that are going to take place at any time soon in any of the arrangements with the European Union because we have made a decision that we are going to leave the European Union, but there is then going to be a lengthy process of negotiation to exactly establish what new arrangements we put in place.

“But he is absolutely right that one of the chief sources of concern in our communities is free movement of people and I am sure that he is also right that in his constituency, as in my own, that will have been a motive for many people to vote.

“I think that it doesn’t alter the fact, whether we are inside the single market or not, whether we have free movement of people or not, investment in the skills of our own people so that British people can get the best British jobs is what we need to do.”

Mr Reynolds, MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, said the free movement of people was a major concern for many Britons.

He told the chamber: “One of the messages that has very clearly come across to me in my experience campaigning in the referendum is that the free movement of people between this country and the rest of the European Union is no longer acceptable to the people I represent.”

To find out about job vacancies, see the Jobs24 site.