Brexit: Transition Plan Urgently Needed to Protect Business

As a no-deal Brexit looks increasingly on the cards, businesses are in desperate need of some kind of transition plan, according to a recent analysis by the REC.The announcement comes after the ONS published new statistics for net EU migration and immigration for year ending March 2019. The stats show that work-related immigration is now at the lowest levels since 2013.

Skills Shortage Grows

Given the major skills shortage UK businesses are currently facing, this is a serious problem. Employers are already unable to source the skilled staff they need. Previously, many of these roles would have been filled by attracting talent from Europe, but this is looking increasingly difficult.

Furthermore, those skilled EU workers that are already employed by UK businesses are facing increased uncertainty about whether they will be able to stay in the UK in the increasingly likely event of a chaotic no-deal Brexit.

Lack of Leadership

To make matters more oblique, the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, stated that freedom of movement will end on November 1st in the event of no-deal. This, coupled with the fact Prime Minister Boris Johnson is attempting to neuter Parliament’s ability to prevent a no-deal, does seem to imply the government is set on exiting the EU with no plan whatsoever, whatever the cost to business, workers, and the economy.

Urgent Action

The REC, therefore, has called for the government to take action to reassure both businesses and EU workers, but there has so far been no clear course of action, or even acknowledgement, of the problem from the Government. The REC’s Director of Policy and Campaigns said: ‘The government must stop posturing and urgently develop a transition plan that ensures EU citizens currently working here feel welcomed and can continue to do so from day 1 after Brexit. It is hard to believe that the government continues to leave businesses and EU citizens in the dark, with such little clarity on the biggest questions with just 10 weeks to go.’

This isn’t the first time the REC has called on the government to take action on Brexit uncertainty. So far, these calls have been ignored

Immigration Irony

It’s hard to ignore the irony of the situation. Immigration was such a major sticking point for many voters during the referendum, after all.

The fact has always been, however, that immigration helps to fill skill shortages for most countries, the UK being no exception.

Many warnings have been issued in the past two years by business leaders, major organisations, experts, and the NHS, about the consequences of an unplanned no-deal Brexit. Now, this destructive path is being actively pursued by the government, and it’s hard to see how anyone is going to benefit in the fallout.