Jamie Stone wants the UK government to make it as easy as possible for European Union nationals to work in hospitality. Picture: Alan HendryJamie Stone has highlighted the importance of European workers to the Highland economy, calling them “the lifeline and mainstay of hospitality businesses”.
Speaking in a debate on the hospitality sector, he said these businesses had been badly affected by the shortfall of migrant workers in the aftermath of Brexit.
Mr Stone, the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, pointed to a Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) report from 2022 showing that hospitality was one of the industries most reliant on European Union nationals.
MAC is an advisory non-departmental public body sponsored by the Home Office.
The report also stated that a difficulty hiring UK-born workers was the most common reason for hiring EU nationals.
“European workers have been the lifeline and mainstay of hospitality businesses in the Highlands, where the threat of depopulation is pertinent,” Mr Stone said.
“Often hotels, restaurants and pubs struggle to find the people they desperately need to run these businesses – and Brexit has only worsened this problem by creating more gaps to fill from European migrants who no longer enjoy freedom of movement.
“This is a serious problem. It is not merely the case of individual businesses losing out, it also has a knock-on effect for communities that continue to see high street closures as a consequence of a lack of staff.
“In this way, these employees are at the very heart of our communities in the Highlands and we value them immensely.
“The government must make it as easy as possible for businesses to offer the work that people desperately want, and enable workers to come to the UK and contribute to our hospitality economy.”
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