UKHospitality calls for certainty in post-Brexit world
The trade body also warned against mandatory calorie labelling.
Trade body UKHospitality has responded to reports on government’s plans to end freedom of movement in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Kate Nicholls, UKHospitality CEO, said in a statement that although the majority of the workers in the hospitality sector are home-grown, businesses need to look for talents overseas to augment their teams.
“We now need more certainty for those that come to the country from 1st November until a new immigration policy is in place. A situation akin to the implementation period would be welcomed by business,” she said.
UKHospitality said they urge the government to share their proposals on the status of EU citizens after Brexit and reiterate their guarantees to current EU citizens.
Mandatory calorie labelling
The trade body also said in another statement that mandatory calorie labelling would cause inconsistencies and burden Scottish hospitality businesses, particularly SMEs.
The warning follows recommendations by Food Standards Scotland to the Scottish government to introduce mandatory labelling for all out-of-home food businesses.
UKHospitality executive director for Scotland Willie Macleod said that the introduction would mean additional costs for businesses already facing tightening margins, burden on those restaurants which regularly change their menu and “severely restricted” SMEs when it comes to innovation.
He added that the end result would likely be increased prices and lowered investments.
Macleod also said that consistent rules are needed since, according to him, mandatory policies introduced in Scotland will cause inconsistencies for businesses that operate UK-wide.
