Friday, March 29News For London

Hard Brexit could cause a severe housing crisis in London

                     Mayor of London- Sadiq Khan     Photo by Flickr/@Dionisos Olympian

 A ‘hard Brexit’ can have a crippling effect on London’s housing crisis, Sadiq Khan reveals.

According to a paper published by the Mayor, one in four construction workers in London are from the European Union and therefore face an uncertain future of their working titles in the UK.

The mayor of London warned that due to the upcoming Brexit, UK could lose skilled workers and this could have a “seriously detrimental” effect on thousands of houses that Londoners need. “London is in the grip of a serious housing crisis. While we are working to train up more Londoners to have the skills to work in construction, you can’t escape the fact that a ‘hard Brexit’ could leave a quarter of the skilled construction workforce in the capital high and dry,” he said.

The Evening Standard reported that currently there are about 350,000 builders in London working under the housing sectors that include office space and infrastructure. EU-born construction workers make up almost a third (27%) of the entire housing labor force. With such a high percentage of skilled EU workers, Mr. Khan fears that the UK economy will face loss along with their personal economy. “When I speak to businesses – both large and small – one of the biggest issues they raise with me is the skills gap. They tell me that maintaining a skilled workforce is absolutely crucial to their future and the future of the whole economy,” he said in the report.

In an interview conducted by the Institute for Employment Studies with Dr. Marangozov, a senior research advisor, looks at the possible implications that abandoning free movement could pose for the UK labour market.

The institute predicted the trends and changes in the UK immigration system and how it could impact the UK labour market. Dr. Marangozov explains that before outlining the options for UK policy-makers to address the potential skills shortages that many sectors may face following the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

Social media platform Twitter has been flooded with reactions by the users concerning the recent report.

Tweet from the Mayor of London emphasising on “maintaining a skilled workforce is absolutely crucial to fixing London’s housing crisis.”

Paul Kerry tweeted “ Ed Sheeran solved the housing crisis a couple of years ago. Pick up the pieces and build a Lego house. Come on Mrs May. Arriba Arriba”

Another user mocked the report by the Mayor saying “as if we didn’t have a housing crisis prior”

Theresa May has yet to provide reassurance over the status of EU workers in London and tensions across the labour departments are rising.

Sub-edited by Bria Woods