The City of London Corporation’s policy chair has said institutions are warning her they will move jobs unless there is clarity on the EU transition agreement in the next couple of months.
“People are going to move jobs unless we come to a transition agreement,” Catherine McGuinness told a fringe event at the Conservative party conference in Manchester.
“Institutions are telling me unless we have clarity in the next couple of months over a transition to give us time to work towards the longer term future… Unless we can agree that very quickly, they are going to move jobs elsewhere.”
McGuinness said the government needed to offer certainty to the 2.1m EU workers in the UK. Some 32% of the City’s workforce is non-UK and 12% is EU.
“They are members of our community, they are people who have contributed enormously to our economy, and it’s not fair that halfway through the Brexit process they should still be worrying about their status,” she said.
“We’re already hearing that because of that message people are trying to look at jobs elsewhere or they are not feeling welcome in our society and I don’t think that is a good message to send out when we are trying to launch ourselves as Global Britain.”
Economist Liam Halligan said the government should have offered certainty on the issue straight after the EU Referendum to have got “Brexit on the front foot”.
“What they should have done is they should have said straight away, ‘you’re fine, subject to criminal record checks, you are staying’, and we would have got off to Brexit on the front foot. That hasn’t happened so this issue is being deliberately strung out by the European Commission. It’s like a septic wound which is damaging the government every day.”
The City of London is interested in a devolved immigration policy which would see regions bid for skilled workers to meet business plans.
Theresa Villiers MP said: “Respecting the referendum result is entirely possible to reconcile with an immigration system that continues to attract talented and enterprising individuals; both from Europe and beyond, and I would share the sentiments … in emphasising the huge importance of giving certainty to EU nationals as soon as possible, that their rights will be fully protected.”
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