Remoaners mocked for blaming Brexit for labour shortages

People who blame Brexit for labour shortages in the hospitality industry have been mocked after Tom Kerridge blamed Britain’s exit from the European Union. Mr Kerridge, 49, was interviewed by ITV News Political Editor Robert Peston last night (November 2).The Michelin-starred chef said: ‘Hospitality is up against it hugely. Brexit, for our industry, there’s not a single positive about it… Overseas workers’ visas is something we definitely need to be looking at.’There’s over 200,000 vacancies within hospitality up and down the country and that doesn’t just make a big difference in terms of the level of service, there’s a tax implication there. That’s 200,000 people that could be earning and paying taxes.’There’s many hospitality businesses that are closing perhaps two, maybe sometimes three days a week, because they generally cannot staff it.’There’s a huge economic bonus in terms of turnover and revenue to Government by encouraging overseas workers back into the country.’ Tom Kerridge says more visas need to be issued so vacancies in hospitality can be filled (Image: Getty) Robert Peston speaks during the Sport Industry NextGen Awards (Image: Getty) A restaurant advertises job vacancies in Manchester (Image: Getty) A waiter wearing a face mask serves customers at a restaurant in Leadenhall Market in London (Image: Getty)Mr Lyons wrote: ‘Blaming Brexit for labour shortages is a classic example of ‘correlation does not equal causation’.’The fact that the UK’s full departure from the EU took place at the start of 2020 and the pandemic lockdowns struck less than three months later make such a mistake easy enough to make for the casual observer.’Trumpeting this fallacy is especially easy if you are predisposed to blame Brexit for every woe facing the UK today.’Why bother looking around for alternative explanations when the usual blame game will do?’DON’T MISS:Djokovic experience gives Nadal idea of juggling tennis and fatherhood [REVEALED] Meghan and Harry warned to ‘get story together’ ahead of book release [LATEST] Charles to break tradition for Remembrance Day [REPORT] The official interest rate (Image: Express)The UK reported a record jump in the number of people leaving the labour market in the three months to August.Official data showed the number of people neither in work nor looking for it rose by 252,000 from the three months to May, the biggest increase since records began in 1971.The leap pushed the unemployment rate down to its lowest since 1974 at 3.5 percent, offering little comfort for the Bank of England.It worries Britain’s shrinking labour market will fuel inflation pressures. John Longworth is a former Director-General of the British Chambers of Commerce (Image: Getty)Vacancies fell to their lowest since late 2021 in the three months to September.The Office for National Statistics has said the ratio of unemployed people to vacancies hit a record low, underscoring the hiring problems facing many employers.Business groups have warned chronic labour shortages mean many companies are now facing a ‘crisis’.There are large numbers of vacancies in the health and social care sector as well as major shortages in retail, hospitality, science and manufacturing.In October, John Longworth, who chairs the Independent Business Network, pushed for over-50s to be brought back into employment.He said: ‘There is a labour shortage across Europe and the UK is no exception. This is a result of Covid lockdowns which resulted in many over-50s not returning to work, but instead retiring early. This age group were amongst the most reliable, experienced and skilled in the workforce.’Mr Longworth warned it would be a challenge to get them back into work, adding it was vitally important to make work worthwhile.He said tax incentives could play an important role in encouraging this age group to come back to work on a full or part-time basis.