“Not the Brexit I wanted,” says Next CEO, “…..More Foreign Workers In The UK.”

The chief executive of apparel and home goods company Next, Simon Wolfson, has called on the government to make it simpler for foreign workers to enter the UK and declared that this is “not the Brexit I wanted.”

The pro-Brexit Conservative peer said that despite businesses’ acute need for labor, the government was preventing people from entering the UK.

In a BBC interview, Lord Wolfson stated, “We have people waiting to come to this country to pick crops that are rotting in fields, to work in warehouses that otherwise wouldn’t be functional, and we’re not letting them in.”
He continued, “In terms of immigration, it’s absolutely not the Brexit that I wanted or, in fact, that many of the Brexit voters wanted.

Wolfson said that it was still worthwhile to encourage companies to hire British citizens, and that this might be done by requiring them to pay a 10% tax to the government on the wages of foreign workers they hire.

If they could find someone in the UK, “it would inevitably mean that businesses never bought someone into the company from outside,” he said. “However, they will pay the premium if they truly cannot.

Businesses all around the UK have been having trouble filling positions, in part because of Brexit regulations that made it impossible for EU nationals to continue working in the country. Hospitals, bars, restaurants, and logistics companies have all been impacted, and last year the government was compelled to grant truck drivers and poultry employees temporary permits in order to address the ensuing supply chain issue.

The majority of UK citizens, according to Wolfson, have a “quite pragmatic perspective” of immigration. He urged the government to handle economically beneficial migration “differently.”

Advertisement

The chief executive of Next replied, “Yes, control it where it’s harmful to society, but let those in who can help.”

We must keep in mind that we are all caught up in the Brexit debate. We must keep in mind that the future of Britain after Brexit is up to all of us, not just the people who chose to leave the EU, Wolfson said.

It happened at a time when the head of retail was attempting to allay concerns about how long the UK’s economic crisis would persist—the Bank of England indicated last week that it might last until the middle of 2024. The UK’s low unemployment rate, which dropped to 3.5% in the three months leading up to August, will help insulate the UK from further economic instability, according to Wolfson, who said that while next year would be difficult, there was no need for a “national nervous breakdown.” It’s highly improbable that they won’t be able to find job, he continued, even if people would be pressured.

By 2024, the nation would likely start to recover, said Wolfson. “A supply side recession is intriguing because it always has the makings of a correction. As a result, prices start to decline as demand declines and factories start to empty.

The government will need to concentrate its “extremely limited resources on the populations that most need help during the oncoming recession,” according to Wolfson, in the interim. He claimed that providing financial support to businesses and households that did not require it was the last thing that the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, should do.

Accordingly, aid should be directed toward “the people who are going to be hungry and cold, not firms that want a cut on their taxes,” he said.

The government has come under fire for spending billions to restrict energy costs for every household and business in the UK, which results in wealthy families and businesses receiving assistance when they may not really need it.

Read More Economic News Here

Advertisement