Blackfriar: Issue over skilled workers from EU must not be swept under the carpet

This was supposed to be the easy part so it doesn’t bode well for the more complex negotiations.

Malcolm Pye, CEO of Sheffield-based based biotech firm Benchmark Holdings, told the Yorkshire Post: “We are an international company. We rely on our ability to recruit. It’s a serious problem for the UK to recruit the right people. People are more reluctant to come to the UK.

“If we can’t persuade people from Europe to come here, that’s a worry. For the UK it’s an enormous worry that has been grossly underestimated.”

It’s not just highly skilled areas like biotech that are suffering - housebuilders and other sectors are also extremely worried.

Brian Berry, ​c​hief ​e​xecutive of the ​​Federation of Master Builders, said: “The Government has not set out what our post-Brexit immigration system will look like, but it is crucial that key strategic industries, such as construction, are able to draw upon sufficient numbers of EU workers.

“EU tradespeople have come to play a crucial part in plugging the industry’s chronic skills gap and if the ability to employ non-UK workers is curtailed, the Government’s housing and infrastructure plans will be no more than a pipe dream.”

EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation ​has warned of a potentially chilling economic effect if Britain’s businesses are denied access to skills from across the EU.

It ​has called on ​the G​overnment to move swiftly to give companies early certainty that they will continue to be able to recruit low-skilled EU nationals until the UK labour market is able to support businesses’ demand with home-grown workers.

Its recent report ​said that three quarters of manufacturers have struggled to fill engineering roles. This figure is set to rise if we see post-Brexit restrictions to migration which apply a cap for companies employing EU staff, along the lines of the current rules currently in force for non-EU​ ​employees working in the UK.

Harrogate-based equipment hire firm Vp said it has already felt the squeeze in skilled areas such as engineers and fitters in manufacturing.

New research this week suggests that more than a million foreign workers are preparing to ditch Britain, adding to fears that the country is facing a Brexit brain drain. The Deloitte survey shows that 36 per cent of non-British workers currently in the country say they are thinking about leaving by 2022.

David Sproul, chief executive of Deloitte North West Europe, said: “That points to a short-to-medium term skills deficit that can be met in part by upskilling our domestic workforce.”

The problem with this is that many British workers simply don’t have the skills to do the work that EU migrants do, nor do they have the inclination to “upskill”. Strawberry farmers would rather recruit from Eastern Europe where they can access people who are willing to work hard. They say that each year they recruit British workers, but the majority last just a day or two and then never come back.

It’s not politically correct to say this but a large number of British people simply cannot be bothered to earn their living. It is we who support them through our taxes. If Blackfriar was given his marching orders, he’d be pulling pints, stacking shelves, cleaning homes and picking any manner of soft fruit.

Many UK citizens lack this work ethic and it’s not good enough. There are parts of Yorkshire where kids think that “work” is some faraway place that adults occasionally visit.

This has to be tackled yet our politicians don’t want to talk about it in case they lose votes. It’s the same with their insistence on a hard Brexit. They may well know it will crash the economy but votes are more important to them than the health of the UK.

Blackfriar predicts a seismic economic downturn over the next year. Maybe when people’s household incomes are hit they will sit up and listen.