Brexit: Digest of business-focussed articles from national and international media, selected by George Hamilton. Some may require a subscription to obtain the full version (paywall). The digest today majors on the government’s tough new immigration plans. Based on the comments below, it’s probably fair to say the view of business ranges through despair, anger and doom.
Headlines in this issue
- NI hospitality sector: “decimated”
- NI farming “hammered”
- End of next-day deliveries?
- Amazon workforce severely depleted
- Music industry: “cutting our legs off”
- Rules could fuel “modern day slavery”
…and in other Brexit news
- Companies moving to Holland because of Brexit
- Data sharing with EU could get tougher – and more expensive
- Boris J has a secret plan to stop Irish Sea checks after 2021
- …and finally. Is the EU stonewalling over the Elgin Marbles?
Northern Ireland hospitality industry ‘will be decimated’
Hospitality Ulster chief executive Colin Neill said: “There has been failure to take into consideration the unique set of circumstances here; complete ignorance of the importance of our sector in particular; and demonstrates absolute contempt for our position.”
The hospitality industry has over 30,000 job vacancies to fill by 2024 and needs 2,000 chefs.
Mr Neill said: “With a declining birth rate and near full employment in Northern Ireland, these proposals will damage our economy and limit plans to grow the tourism economy to a £2 billion industry.”
The Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry also expressed misgivings.
Head of policy Christopher Morrow said: “With no route for low skilled temporary employment and no time for businesses to adapt, the speed and scale of these changes will require significant adjustment by businesses and have implications for a region where access to skills and low productivity are already serious concerns.” Irish News 20 Feb
http://www.irishnews.com/
Immigration plan will hammer farming here, warns union
The Ulster Farmers’ Union has said the UK Government’s plans for immigration following Brexit will leave its members unable to compete with the Irish Republic.
The UFU Union said Northern Ireland should be a special case given its proximity to the Republic, where workers from other parts of the EU will be able to continue to enter freely regardless of skill levels.
UFU deputy president David Brown said: “In excess of 60 to 70% of those working in our agri-food processing sectors are EU citizens.
“If free movement of workers is not allowed, it will undermine the position of our processors and our wider industry who will not be able to compete with their counterparts south of the border.”
Mr Brown warned that horticulture would take a major hit if its supply of labour was cut off.”The feared outcome could shift production from Northern Ireland,” he added.
BUT..not everyone agrees with all these doom merchants: Dr Esmond Birnie, a senior economist at Ulster University, said the plans were an opportunity to develop the local workforce.
“As an economist looking at the record of the Northern Ireland economy over a decade, I actually think there is a potential benefit in all of this,” he said.
“It’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to be driven back to developing the existing labour force, including the people who are economically inactive.” Belfast Telegraph 21 Feb
https://www.belfasttelegraph.
Immigration crackdown could spell demise of next-day deliveries
The Government’s new immigration policy could mean the end of next-day delivery for shoppers, the haulage industry has claimed.
The Road Haulage Association chief executive Richard Burnett said: “Profit margins are so low, between one and two per cent, that employers simply cannot afford to train new drivers,” said its
“They need to employ those that are already qualified but with a 60,000 shortfall this is impossible.”
His comments came as the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), a left-leaning think tank, said 90pc of EU migrants working in the transport and storage sectors would not have been eligible for a skilled work visa under the new system. Daily Telegraph 19 Feb
Planned immigration crackdown to hit Amazon’s warehouses
Amazon has long relied heavily on workers from the European Union. A report from 2017 suggested around half of the most junior staff were from within the bloc, equal to more than 7,000 people at the time.
It said these workers were not classed as skilled under government rules, meaning they would struggle to get the 70 points needed to come and work in the country. In total, Amazon employs around 30,000 people across the UK.
But the firm could be barred from hiring new migrants to help run its vast warehouse network under the UK’s new points-based immigration regime.
The firm insisted it is operating business as usual but added: “As will be the case with the sector as a whole, we are monitoring the situation.”
It came as the UK Warehousing Association said that immigration restrictions will ultimately drive up prices for consumers, particularly if firms are forced to pay more to attract Britons.
Peter Ward, chief executive of the association, said: “The logistics industry operates on the narrowest of margins.
“It is hard to see how any significant across-the-board pay increases for low-skilled staff could be introduced without passing on the additional costs, unless the days when online shoppers expect low priced goods with cost-free and immediate delivery become a thing of the past.”
Ministers had suggested businesses in the logistics space hike levels of pay and invest more in automation, in order to make them less reliant on overseas workers. Daily Telegraph 21 Feb
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Priti Patel warned her immigration crackdown will ‘cut the legs off’ the UK music industry
In a blistering attack, the Incorporated Society of Musicians said the Home Office has turned its back on the creative arts – worth £111bn a year to the economy, similar to banking – and refused to listen to its pleas for help.
“Enormous” numbers of bands from EU countries will be shut out by the huge cost and frightening bureaucracy of performing, dealing a hammer blow to the venues that host them, it said.
Moreover, UK artists will feel the pain if Brussels slaps similar restrictions on tours to EU countries, in the post-Brexit trade talks that have already turned ugly. Independent 21 Feb
https://apple.news/
Immigration rules post-Brexit could fuel modern slavery, say charities
The proposed closure of UK borders to low-skilled workers after Brexit risks driving vulnerable EU citizens into modern slavery, charities have said.
They warned the ban will lead to a boom in a black market for low-paid workers that will be exploited by criminals and lead to coercion and abuse.
One charity, the East European Resource Centre, said: “Let’s not kid ourselves: someone will have to do the dirty, low-paid jobs, from construction to food processing to social care. Where are these workers going to come from?” Guardian 21 Feb
Netherlands Lures Its Biggest Brexit-Linked Wave of Businesses
The Netherlands saw the biggest wave of Brexit-spurred moves to the country last year. More companies are likely to follow.
Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency said 78 companies decided to move to or expand in the country last year, adding to the 62 firms that relocated there after the U.K.’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union.
The agency is still in talks with 425 firms considering moving or expanding in the Netherlands because of Brexit, up from the about 250 it had mentioned last year. These include not just British entities, but also American and Asian ones that are reviewing their European structure and operations. – Bloomberg News 19 Feb
The UK’s data sharing deals with Europe are about to get real messy
Brexit means the EU and UK need to agree how to keep data flowing, but government surveillance and political posturing may mean British companies face mountains of paperwork and higher costs, the government loses access to policing data, and startups instead headquarter themselves on the continent. Wired 20 Feb
https://www.wired.co.uk/
Brexit team seeks to evade Irish Sea checks on goods
Boris Johnson’s Brexit team has been ordered to draw up plans to “get around” the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit withdrawal agreement so the prime minister can play hardball with Brussels over trade.
Officials in Taskforce Europe, run by Johnson’s EU negotiator David Frost, are working in secret on proposals to ensure that there do not need to be checks on goods passing from Britain to Northern Ireland.
They believe the new attorney-general, Suella Braverman, might have to give new legal advice to justify the move. Insiders say she was appointed because her predecessor Geoffrey Cox was not willing to countenance action that will be seen in Brussels as a breach of the exit agreement. Sunday Times 23 Feb
Are we about to lose our (Elgin) marbles?- 1. “Never” says UK
The EU added an “Elgin Marbles clause” to its demands for a post-Brexit trade deal with Britain, raising fears that the move would bolster Greek calls for their repatriation to Athens – Daily Telegraph 19 Feb
Are we about to lose our (Elgin) marbles?- 2. “No..but maybe”: EU
Greek Government spokesman Stelios Petsas said “Greece’s request for the return of the Parthenon marbles remains strong and it is not linked to a Brexit deal,” when asked if the issue could be a stumbling point in talks with Britain on its future relationship with the European Union.
“We’ll continue to call for their return and if this is a tool we can use, we’ll consider it in due course,” he said [my italics] – Irish Times 19 Feb
