Identifying EU workers difficult says mayor’s Brexit adviser

Speaking at an EU hearing on rights for EU workers in the UK, Julia Onslow-Cole from the mayor’s Brexit advisory group said businesses were struggling to identify EU workers because employers were not previously required to retain this information.

The hospitality sector is a major employer of migrant labour and Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), said the vast majority of small pub operators were not equipped or accustomed to dealing with visa applications.

She said the issue “highlights the importance of ensuring than compliance with any new immigration systems is simple and straightforward”.

Workers’ rights prioritised

Onslow-Cole highlighted the lack of clarity in the situation as she called on negotiators to ensure securing the rights of all EU workers in the UK, and also UK workers in the EU, would be a “priority” for Brexit negotiations even if employers were unable to identify their EU workforce.

The European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt backed this view at the same session, saying that a Brexit deal that fails to uphold the rights of EU workers in the UK would not happen. 

“We will never give a consent if the issue has not been dealt [with] in a satisfactory way,” he said.

‘Significant problems’

The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) and BBPA voiced their support of Verhofstadt’s comments.

Kate Nicholls of the ALMR warned that there would be “significant problems” if the rights of EU workers in Britain were not secured in a deal.

Brigid Simmonds from the BBPA added that she hoped workers’ rights would be resolved early in the Brexit negotiations.

“We have always said very strongly that we want the existing rights of our much-valued employees from the European Union to be safeguarded,” Simmonds said.

JDW demands unilateral right to stay

The chairman of JD Wetherspoon (JDW) Tim Martin agreed that workers' rights needed to be a priority in negotiations, saying that the government should give the workers the unilateral right to stay straight away.

"Their efforts benefit our economy, we have low unemployment and are also one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

"The UK should take the high moral ground, allow current immigrants to stay and dare the EU to round up Brits abroad and send them home," he said.