BBPA worried by government’s new immigration rules
Britain will end the free movement of labour immediately after Brexit and introduce restrictions to deter all but highly-skilled EU workers. These proposals, set out in a Home Office document, were leaked to the Guardian newspaper on 5 September 2017 and drew criticism – not least from industry.
As can be imagined, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) became very much concerned. BBPA’s Chief Executive Brigid Simmonds, on 6 September 2017, felt compelled to comment:
“This document suggests that there will be a cap on low-skilled workers which would undermine the needs of the pub industry, where we rely a great deal on those with the soft skills needed to provide great hospitality.”
“Whilst the brewing and pub sector does employ thousands of UK citizens, 17 percent of our 900,000 employees are from overseas and this rises to 40 percent plus, in metropolitan areas. For some companies it is much higher, particularly for kitchen staff.”
“The UK’s low unemployment rates are going to make it extremely hard to replace these employees with UK nationals. If there were to be a cap for EU employees, it must be at a level that can sustain our industry.”
The BBPA said that it is already in touch with officials and they are keen to meet with us.
Ms Simmonds’ warnings are echoed by Tim Martin, Chairman of pub chain JD Wetherspoon, which operates around 900 pubs. Mr Martin is a staunch Brexiteer but has called himself a “liberal” where immigration is concerned, in view of the fact that his company has benefited from immigration from within and outside of the EU. He has often said that Britain could not afford to put the brake on immigration and called for a special deal for EU workers.
His view is supported by comments from the chain of sandwich shops, Pret A Manger (480 outlets), that only one in 50 job applications it gets are from British people looking for work.
