BOSSES ON WARPATH OVER FOREIGN STAFF

CLASH WITH MINISTERS OVER DEMANDS TO RELAX IMMIGRATION RULES TO EASE JOBS CRISIS

- David Bond, Jonathan Prynn, Simon Hunt and Rachael Burford

MINISTERS today clashed with business leaders over calls to open Britain’s borders to more foreign workers to help plug crippling staff shortages.

Amid deepening economic gloom as the UK heads into recession, company bosses want the Government to relax its cap on immigration to boost growth and fill staffing gaps — particularly in the retail, hospitality and construction industries. But immigration minister Robert Jenrick slapped down those demands today and insisted that employers struggling to find staff should look to the “domestic workforce” if they are seeking “lower-skilled labour”.

“We want to bring down net migration,” the minister told TalkTV. “It’s something that is very important to the British people and we’re on the side of the British people.”

The row came as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this morning set out his vision to grow the economy in a speech to the Confederation of British Industry in Birmingham. But his attempts to reassure business leaders after last week’s Autumn Statement set out plans to raise taxes by £25 billion were overshadowed by the immigration row.

‘A million vacancies and 600,000 long-term sick’