Top bosses: Britain needs its EU workers to succeed

As triggering of Article 50 looms, chiefs warn of risks over Brexit

BOSSES of two leading companies have warned that expelling European Union workers from Britain will deal a massive blow to the economy.

Mike Coupe, chief executive of Sainsbury, said it would be ‘unacceptable’ to force 8,000 of his staff to leave the UK after Brexit.

Meanwhile, Tim Martin, founder and chairman of pubs group JD Wetherspoon – who was one of the most prominent pro-Brexit business leaders during the referendum campaign – said it was vital that immigration stays close to current levels to keep the economy dynamic.

Martin, who described himself as a ‘liberal’ on immigration, said he had supported the Leave campaign because he objected to what he saw as a lack of democracy in the EU. Not because he was against immigration.

Last week, MPs rejected a House of Lords amendment calling on the Government to guarantee the rights of EU citizens already working in the UK as part of its Article 50 Bill.

Theresa May is expected to trigger Article 50 in the next ten days, eventually leading to Britain’s exit from the EU. The rights of EU citizens living in the UK will be determined during negotiations at a later stage.

Speaking before the parliamentary votes last week, Coupe, who employs 163,000 workers across Sainsbury’s 1,300-store empire, said: ‘About 5 per cent of people who work for us are from the European Union.

‘If it was decided that those 5 per cent were not allowed to work in the UK, that would be a big deal for us and it would be a big deal for the country more generally. If there is a different set of rules post-Brexit then of course we’ll comply with those, but clearly it would be wholly undesirable if people were asked to go home tomorrow.

‘For a business like ours, losing 5 per cent of our workforce would be unacceptable.’

He added: ‘You can broaden the issue more widely to the food industry. There are 80,000 people who come to pick fruit and vegetables in the UK. Our agricultural industry relies on seasonal labour.’

Coupe’s words echoed views expressed earlier this year at the annual National Farmers Union conference, where Environment

Secretary and prominent Leave campaigner Andrea Leadsom was warned that fruit and vegetables could end up ‘rotting in fields’ if pickers from the EU were not given visas.

Martin added: ‘I’m a liberal regarding immigration and we’ve generally benefited from immigration from both within the EU and outside the EU.’

He made similar remarks in the Cambridge University magazine Varsity earlier this month when he said the ideal amount of immigration was ‘about the level we’ve had in recent years’.

Martin told The Mail on Sunday last week: ‘There is a low birth rate in Britain, but we need a gradually rising population in order to be a successful economy.’

He said he favoured regulating immigration by introducing a points-based system. Some argue that such a method could protect highlyskilled migrant workers, but say it would do nothing to help the unskilled EU workers who are heavily represented in the retail, leisure and farming sectors.

Earlier this month, sandwich chain Pret A Manger revealed that just one in every 50 job applications it receives are from British citizens.