BCC warns of recruitment crisis unless immigration rules agreed
British businesses were facing growing difficulties recruiting staff as immigration levels dropped, the head of the British Chambers of Commerce said on Friday.
Director general Adam Marshall said the government needed to offer more clarity about its immigration plans once the UK left the EU next year.
“The current rationing of non-EU work permits is already a clear and present threat to investment in our business communities, and extending that cumbersome system to European workers would make a difficult situation even worse,” he wrote in the Guardian.
“Tighter enforcement of the law, with individuals and with rogue employers, alike, is much more important to addressing legitimate public concerns over immigration levels than an expensive, draconian and damaging visa or work permit regime.”
Marshall said many businesses could not afford to wait much longer for a clear UK immigration policy to emerge.
“This makes it all the more troubling that the planned immigration white paper, meant to cover the short to medium term, is now delayed,” he said.