Loophole has to be closed

SINCE we went to the polls over Brexit, there has been an ongoing fight over the result from both sides, with the pro-stay lobby demanding a rerun of the vote because we didn’t know all the facts.

Well there is one fact the stay lobby haven’t mentioned, but it has slipped out a few times.

There is a loophole in the law that allows companies to sidestep a country’s minimum wage laws.

So far two companies have been found to be using this law.

Ikea in Germany are using an agency to recruit drivers in eastern Europe to deliver their goods.

They are paid the rate for their own country, even though they are working in Germany.

So, two drivers doing the same job

ne earns around €1,200, the one from eastern Europe around €400, which means they are forced to live for months at a time in their cabs as they cannot afford to rent a room.

Now move across to the Blackpool area, with one of the highest unemployment rates in the UK.

One big employer in the area is also using this loophole to bypass the already low UK minimum wage and bring in people from eastern Europe, thus paying them well below the rate.

But this also means that those brought in don’t pay UK tax or National Insurance.

It also means that the company doesn’t pay NI for those workers.

Of course if, perchance, they take ill or are injured they are treated by the NHS, which neither they nor the company employing them has paid a penny to.

I have no objection to anybody legally working in the UK – or indeed anywhere in the EU – but this loophole, which to all intents allows a legal version of people trafficking, must be closed.

I wonder though how many of those leading the fight to stay in the EU also use this loophole to bring in cheap labour to keep their profit levels high, and how many would still fight as hard if the same EU tomorrow closed that loophole? Fred McCann

Southport

STOP MINI-LIVERPOOL

I SEE another hotel has been approved.

The Ramada is never full to capacity and the shops still remain vacant.

Why doesn’t the council see a beautiful Victorian town and work on this, instead of trying to turn it into a mini-Liverpool.

Southport BID would be better placed working towards family tourism, the plan is doomed from the start.

My family live here and it upsets me to see a beautiful heritage being cast aside. Martin Hillidge via email

BACK BHF CAUSE

WITH spring just round the corner, I wanted to encourage your readers to keep the British Heart Foundation in mind during their spring clearout this year and donate any unwanted items to their local BHF shop to help fund lifesaving heart research.

It is a sad reality that there are an estimated 843,600 people living with heart and circulatory disease in the North West.

The BHF funds more than £100m of research across the UK each year into fighting these terrible diseases – from improving diagnosis to finding lifesaving new treatments – to help create a better future for everyone affected. It is only down to our generous supporters that we are able to fund this truly groundbreaking heart research.

Donating any good quality items from your spring clearout to the BHF is a really simple way everyone can get involved and help in the fight for every heartbeat.

Each item donated, from books to bags and clothes to CDs, will be much appreciated by your local BHF shop.