Post the election the opportunity for a less partisan and more business friendly Brexit seems far more achievable. Anyone involved in running a UK manufacturing business today will recognise that recruitment and retention have been issues on the board room table for many, many months.
Therefore the change in negotiating dynamic on the UK side will be broadly welcomed across UK businesses, whatever the colour of your politics. However that will not solve the skills shortage anytime soon. As such the need to have fully functioning apprentice and graduate recruitment schemes has never been more important.
The forecast reduction in the supply of EU labour ( 700,000) will create significant resourcing problems in hospitality, food processing and service, distribution and logistics, health and old age care, labour intensive agriculture, and retail. The response has to be, where ever possible, automation. A look at the population pyramid (next page) shows that those who retire in the next 15 years will be replaced by a smaller number, and they in turn by a smaller number. The increase in the 0-9 year olds will take time to work through.
