Britain's interior minister Amber Rudd said on Sunday she was looking at a work permits system to control migration from the European Union, responding to Brexit voters' demand for tighter border controls, Reuters informs.

Although formal negotiations on leaving the EU have yet to begin, Britain is searching for a way to satisfy voters who backed leaving the EU because they wanted lower immigration and an end to open borders with the bloc, whilst meeting the needs of an economy in which some sectors depend on foreign labor.

"Work permits certainly has value," Rudd told the BBC, saying her department was examining immigration control systems and that no decisions had yet been made.

Britain currently has a visa system for non-EU nationals, but under EU rules citizens from within the 28-country bloc are free to live and work in Britain.

"What we're going to look at is how we can get the best for the economy, driving the numbers down but protecting the people who really add value to the economy," Rudd said.

Earlier this month Prime Minister Theresa May rejected a "points-based" system to screen immigrants - something Brexit campaigners promised to implement - stirring fears among some voters that her government was not taking a hard enough line on key issues like immigration.