FDF attend first key meeting post Brexit
The UK’s Food and Drink Federation attended the first meeting of Britain’s business leaders since the EU referendum.
Ian Wright, director general of the FDF, represented UK food and drink manufacturing – Britain’s largest manufacturing sector – at the first meeting of Britain’s business leaders since the EU referendum, hosted by Rt Hon Sajid Javid, business secretary, on 28 June.
Wright says, “The UK food industry has almost 100,000 workers from the rest of the EU. We have an emerging gap of up to a further 130,000 workers as our ageing staff retire over the next decade. While we as an industry continue to take many steps to develop homegrown talent through ambitious graduate and apprenticeship programmes, EU workers also provide a highly valued solution to our skills gap. They bring with them talent, spending power, flexibility and huge diversity. All are great for our industry and for the UK.
“The UK food industry benefits from bringing in skilled labour from the EU and we urgently need assurances from UK government that EU nationals working in the UK will be granted leave to remain. UK government must now develop a new migration policy that ensures food and drink manufacturers have continued access to the workers we will need to address a looming skills gap and the drive for future innovation to support our UK competitive advantage.
“EU workers in food and drink are highly valued and deserve reassurance in these very uncertain times.”