BRITAIN NEEDS MORE MIGRANTS TO COPE WITH THE RECESSION, SAYS BUSINESS BODY

Tue 22 November 2022:

In the face of rising inflation and shrinking growth, Britain’s main business lobby group said on Monday (November 21) that the country needed more migrant labor to boost productivity. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) issued its verdict at its annual meeting in Birmingham, Britain’s second largest city.

The CBI conference took place after the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak slashed spending and increased taxes in budger

“We come together, once more in extraordinary times,” CBI director-general Tony Danker told delegates in Birmingham, central England.

“Britain is in the middle of stagflation — rocketing inflation and negative growth — for the first time that probably most of us can remember.

“We know how to fight inflation. We know how to fight recession. But we don’t really know how to fight them together.”

UK inflation sits at a 41-year peak of 11.1 percent on rocketing food and energy costs in the wake of the Ukraine war.

Consumer prices have raced higher also as demand rebounds following the lifting of pandemic lockdowns.

That has worsened a cost-of-living crisis for businesses and individuals, hit also by soaring interest rates as the Bank of England seeks to cool runaway inflation.

Immigration focus

The UK has forecast its economy to shrink 1.4 percent next year, hit additionally by fallout from Brexit which has resulted in foreign workers returning home.

“When you look at the (growth) data, the only thing holding it up, actually, is higher hours worked due to higher immigration,” Danker added Monday.

“People are arguing against immigration — but it’s the only thing that has increased our growth potential since March.

“Let’s be honest — we don’t have the people we need, nor do we have the productivity.”

Sunak addressed the CBI on Monday. It has been one month since he took office after predecessor Liz Truss delivered an unfunded tax-slashing mini-budget that tanked the pound and sent UK borrowing costs soaring. Right now UK inflation is at 11.1 per cent. That is a 41-year high. This has meant that food and energy costs have risen in the wake of the Ukraine war.

Consumer prices have also risen as demand recovers following the end of the pandemic.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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