EU migrants will still be needed after Brexit says Conservative MEP - The Redditch Standard

EU migrants will still be needed after Brexit says Conservative MEP

Redditch Editorial 27th Mar, 2018   0

WEST Midlands employers will continue to need EU migrants post-Brexit – and MEP Anthea McIntyre is preparing a guide to help businesses secure settled status for their staff.

She outlined the plan at a business lunch in Birmingham with fellow West Midlands MEP Daniel Dalton.

Miss McIntyre, Conservative employment spokesman in the European Parliament, said the region reported the fastest increase in employment in the UK last month.

“We also have a record number of job vacancies – and we rely on EU labour,” she said. “About one-third of migrant labour in the West Midlands is from the EU, totalling around 150,000 people.”




She said in the manufacturing sector, EU nationals make up 11 per cent of the workforce regionally, while three-quarters of manufacturing businesses employed at least one EU national.

“The Government and the Prime Minister have been clear we want EU nationals to be able to continue to live and work in the UK and we want to see the same deal for UK nationals in the EU,” said Miss McIntyre.


She said a system of applying for settled status was planned to commence this autumn at a cost no more than a passport fee.

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