Monday 9 January 2017

Growing evidence for business support for immigration in London

London businesses have spoken out in favour of immigration and prioritising growth according to a ComRes survey commissioned by London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The figures follow LCCI's report: Points, Permits and Visas which seeks to safeguard the status of EU nationals post-Brexit through specific work permits and London Visas.

The Government has also launched it's own consultation into a post-Brexit immigration policy which is expected to explicitly address the issue of "geographical variations".

The LCCI survey of more than 500 businesses found:

- Half of London businesses (52%) say that a decrease in the level of immigration to London would have a negative impact on economic growth.
- Three in five (57%) London businesses say that London should prioritise growth, even if it means increasing immigration from EU states

The recent LCCI report also found in post-Brexit setting if these EU nationals currently working in London had to seek to work under existing Tier 2 immigration visa rules, London would lose 160,000 workers, face a £7bn negative impact on economic output and miss an estimated £2bn direct tax contributions by 2020 as many EU nationals would likely not meet the recently amended requirements on salary thresholds.

Chief Executive of LCCI, Colin Stanbridge said: "It has become increasingly clear since the Referendum how much the London economy relies on immigrant workers.

"We heard this from businesses during roundtables held in the summer, the same message came through when conducting further research for the Permits, Points and Visas report and again with this survey we can see that business recognise the economy would lose out if immigration was suddenly slashed.

"Therefore we renew calls on the Government to future-proof our economy by ensuring the status of EU nationals currently working in the capital and looking at options for those coming to work here in the future."

ENDS

Media contact
Katharine McGee
T: +44 (0)20 7203 1897
M: +44 (0)7827 241528
E: kmcgee@londonchamber.co.uk

NOTES TO EDITOR:

1. London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) is the capital's largest and most representative business organisation, with members ranging in size from multi-national companies to SMEs and sole traders.
2. Colin Stanbridge, Chief Executive, is available for further comment and interview.
3. ComRes surveyed 502 London business decision makers online between 2rd and 22st November 2016. Data was weighted to be representative of all London businesses by company size and broad industry sector. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Data tables are available at www.comresglobal.com
4. To read the Permits points and visas reports click here