Brexit May Cause Workforce Shortage Say Food Experts

There have already been predictions of a food crisis post Brexit and now it seems there might be a shortage of workers too according to the food industry of UK.  “Our sector faces a rapidly approaching workforce shortage and skills gap,” the Food and Drink Federation told BBC.  In fact their survey of the “farm to fork” supply chain has showed that 31% of the businesses have seen the 31% of workforce leave the UK.

“It is only a matter of time before the uncertainty reported by businesses results in an irreversible exit of EU workers from these shores. Without our dedicated and valued workforce we would be unable to feed the nation,” Ian Wright the its director-general of the federation told BBC. The federation has asked the government to step in to ensure that the rights of European nationals be guaranteed.

One of the government spokesperson told BBC, “In June we published our offer to protect the rights of EU citizens in the UK, confirming no-one living here lawfully will be asked to leave when we exit the EU and they will have a grace period to regularise their status.”

The survey results by the federation show that 47% EU nationals are considering to leave UK, 31% have already left after the referendum and 17% have said that the would relocate if there was no access provided to the UK nationals. Also, according to this survey 36% people have said that they would become unviable outwith the workforce. “What we don’t want is a sudden switch-off of the availability of EU workers who are part of the lifeblood of our industry,” said Wright.