[1andrew1]

Lack of EU workers is proving problematical. We've heard about farming. Now it's the turn of travel and broadband.

Boris' 'Brexit rules' to blame for airport disruption - 'Not enough EU workers in the UK'

Speaking to Times Radio, he [Paul Charles, former Virgin Atlantic and Eurostar director] pinpointed the issue: "Well, one of the big failings, I’m afraid, is the government not letting enough European workers into the UK.

"Our analysis shows that nearly a third of jobs in the travel industry in this country are traditionally filled by European workers. And of course, since Brexit, those rules have changed, which have prevented European workers coming in, in the main, to work in the industry.

"So, that’s why it’s struggling. It can’t find enough workers from overseas as well as in the UK."

Mr Charles continued: "And I appreciate, absolutely, the industry is not always paying well enough. The wages are not high enough, the baggage handlers or security processes. And the industry has got to take a good, long, hard look at that.

"But fundamentally, government rules not only during the pandemic, but since Brexit, have disabled the sector. They really haven’t helped the sector at all to recover."

https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...workers-uk/amp

BT executive says Brexit is slowing superfast broadband rollout

Openreach head hits out at ‘tortuous’ process of hiring skilled workers from the EU

Clive Selley, chief executive of BT’s Openreach, the division leading the rollout of fibre optic networks to homes, said countries such as Portugal and Spain have plenty of people with the necessary skills to accelerate the delivery of superfast broadband.

“They want the work, we want the skills and the Home Office have a process that is tortuous,” Selley said in an interview. “We are constraining the rate of fibre build in the UK through the process.”

“If it was easier getting people in, I would take a thousand tomorrow,” he said, referring to contractors rather than full-time staff. Portugal and Spain have the skilled labour required because the countries are close to finishing their rollout, he added.

The delivery of superfast broadband is central to the Conservative government’s pledge to bridge the digital divide and level up the economy. Its last manifesto outlined plans to deliver “full fibre and gigabit-capable broadband to every home and business across the UK by 2025”.

https://www.ft.com/content/6038500d-...e-d884a6fcc907