Gordon Brown will go to Europe to seek new legal safeguards for British workers in an attempt to head off the growing industrial unrest and the prospect of a fresh wave of strikes this week.

European laws have been distorted by two rulings by the European Court of Justice at the end of 2007, which ministers believe water down the rights of British workers.

The Government will now seek fresh directives to ensure that workers cannot be brought in from overseas on lower salaries and fewer benefits than domestic workers would be entitled to.

However, the Government has not yet mapped out how it will seek to overturn the judgments, and it is unclear how fast any changes could be made.

The European court rulings, known as the Viking and Laval cases, prevent unions from protesting against companies that bring in foreign workers and undercut collective bargaining agreements.

Britain could expect to be supported by France in its push for reform, but the Czechs, who hold the presidency of the EU, appear to be resisting any quick changes.

There is considerable nervousness about the wildcat strikes in Britain after it emerged that the British National Party is promoting the strikes on its website, using the "British jobs for British workers" slogan coined by the Prime Minister in a 2007 speech.

Sadiq Khan, the Communities Minister, said yesterday that ministers had to prevent the situation becoming a “tinderbox” for wider unrest.

“What we cannot have is the perception that foreign companies are abusing the rules of the EU to penalise British workers who have the skills to do the job," he said.

The unions stepped up the pressure yesterday, with Derek Simpson, the joint general secretary of Unite, calling on the Government to use corporate social responsibility rules to force companies that receive public money to consider domestic workers.

Mr Simpson is in the middle of a battle for re-election as joint leader of his union.

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary and a former trade union leader, outlined the Government's plans this morning. He told the BBC that although the strikers were wrong to take unofficial industrial action, the issue needed to be examined.

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