Islands MSP makes visit to Stornoway shellfish company
Islands MSP and Minister for International Development and Europe Alasdair Allan, visited MacDuff Shellfish in Stornoway recently to discuss concerns around Brexit.
The MSP heard directly from employees about their concerns around EU citizens’ rights in the context of Brexit.
He also heard about what the main questions are for the business, in terms of maintaining its workforce.
Dr Allan said: ‘This was a really useful opportunity to hear directly about the concerns EU workers have around Brexit.
‘For more than 18 months, EU citizens have been left with intolerable uncertainty about their future. There are still many details to be clarified, and these will have real and significant impacts on individuals and their families.
‘EU citizens need to have confidence that their rights will continue to be effectively protected.
‘MacDuff is an important local employer and the vast majority of their employees originate from other European member states.
‘Access to the European labour market is hugely important to them, as is seamless access to markets in the rest of Europe.
‘In my view, the benefit which island businesses such as MacDuff have from the freedom of movement of people at present underlines why it is so important that the UK retains membership of the European single market in the future.
‘This visit was also a chance to reiterate on behalf of the Scottish Government that we greatly value the contribution of EU citizens living in the islands and Scotland as a whole.’