Poll shows lack of confidence in Government
A poll carried out this week by Building magazine of industry attitudes has found that many feel that the government does not care enough about the construction industry to make an effort to secure a good deal following Brexit.
The poll showed that 65% felt that construction was too low a priority, while just 10% felt the government was committed to getting a good deal for the industry. A further 40% feared that there will be a huge impact on recruitment. Meanwhile, 90% agreed that there needed to be a clearer plan on how to deal with skills shortages in the industry before EU restrictions were placed on workers.
Of those questioned, 70% wanted to remain within the EU and 72% felt that Brexit would be bad for the industry and were less confident now than they were before the referendum in 2016.
This news comes as the government published its first round of papers detailing what would happen should there be a “no deal” scenario. This prompted Gleeds chairman Richard Steer to state that the government has an apparent lack of planning and an inept approach. He suggests that the government needs to find a way out of the mess and quickly.
This is a view shared by Al Watson of the law firm Taylor Wessing, he points out that recruitment was going to be a huge issue and that there are not enough people coming through the working population to fill the industry roles that will be left empty following Brexit.
Construction Products Association director Noble Francis also says that construction firms should be looking to fill jobs from elsewhere and be prepared for restrictions on migration and access to migrant workers.