UK's new immigration laws 'a crippling blow' to the North's hospitality sector
The chief executive of Hospitality Ulster has warned that the hospitality industry in Northern Ireland will contract if tough new immigration laws are introduced by the British Home Office.
Colin Neill described the proposed laws as “a crippling blow to our sector.”
The British Home Office proposal is part of a “firm and fair” post-Brexit crackdown that will replace free movement with a minimum salary threshold of £25,600 for most workers.
The new immigration laws could shut the door on 140,000 workers from the European Union and citizens from the continent may have to provide their fingerprints.
“In Northern Ireland we simply do not have the bodies here that we need to work in the sector,” Mr Neill told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
The number of EU nationals working in Northern Ireland is declining which means that the hospitality sector is suffering with one restaurant deferring its opening because they cannot find staff, he said.
We are looking to double the number of jobs in the sector to 25,000, but we just won’t have the people to fill them.
Mr Neill warned that it’s not just the hospitality sector that will be impacted.
He said: “Some sectors can be automated, hospitality cannot. You can’t have people coming into a bar and being fed from a vending machine. We need people, if we don’t get them the sector won’t grow, it will contract.”
Mr Neill also pointed out that it was inaccurate to describe such workers as ‘unskilled’ just because their qualification was not formal.
The proposed new immigration laws did not elaborate on the position of ‘frontier workers’ (people who live in the Republic of Ireland, but work in Northern Ireland), he said.
Christopher Morrow, Head of Policy at Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NI Chamber), agreed that the new law will hit some sectors more than others.
Mr Morrow said: “Policies need to make the UK an optimal locational choice for skilled people but also to ensure that Northern Ireland is placed on an equal footing to take advantage of the top talent available internationally to help develop and grow our economy.
Unfortunately with this policy, only some sectors will be able to cope, and others such as hospitality, tourism and healthcare will struggle due to shortages of staff and full employment here.
“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.”
