Brexit and Covid could bring ‘Scandinavian’ bar prices to Scotland, MPs hear – The National

BREXIT and the Covid crisis have forced employers to rethink pay and conditions but that could push pint prices up to 10, MPs have heard.

Experts from hospitality, haulage and horticulture told MPs the impact of EU withdrawal and the pandemic have had major impacts on their sectors, with staff shortages now forcing a rethink of recruitment, pay and conditions.

MPs on Westminster's cross-party Scottish Affairs Committee heard that while this is good for the staff affected, continued rise are notsustainable and will force costs up for consumers pushing bar prices up to "Scandinavian" levels.

Stephen Montgomery of the Scottish Hospitality Group (SHG) said: "I would love to pay all my bartenders 12, 15, 18 an hour but whenever you are paying 10 a pint that's when it becomes an issue."

All three sectors are battling to find solutions for the labour shortages affecting businesses, with the shortfall in HGV drivers disrupting supply chains. In turn, that's left supermarket shelves empty and driven the price of goods up. The committee invited key figures to give evidence about how things stand now.

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David Michie of the National Farmers' Union Scotland (NFUS) told how one Scottish farm had ploughed 2.5 million heads of broccoli and 1.5mheads of cauliflower back into the soil in August as problems piled up, with horticulture worker numbers almost 25% shy this summer and rising operating costs now making Scottish firms "uncompetitive".

Martin Reid, director of Scotland and Northern Ireland for the Road Haulage Association (RHA), said Brexit had exacerbated existing pressures on staffing to create a "perfect storm" and Montgomery called for an Army-style recruiting campaign to attract people to hospitality careers.

And the committee heard that while some bus firms are now seeing their staff drift over to haulage because of higher pay, that's not sustainable and creates knock-on problems.

The speakers were asked if higher pay and better conditions could close the recruitment gaps. The panel heard that this review is overdue, but won't solve everything.

Reid told MPs: "We were so embedded into a system within the EU which was not only about freedom of movement for labour, it was about freedom of goods movement, all those things that we took for granted, the 'just in time' way that we ordered things. You could sit on your laptop on a Friday night with a glass of wine and order something that would come fro Romania and arrive on your doorstep in 24 hours. That world has gone. As an industry, we are having to relearn so many different things."

Montgomery said many furloughed hospitality workers had become delivery drivers and his sector was "known as being a cheap labour, long hours, badly-run area", deterring recruitment despite nine months of pay rises. And he said he could foresee Scotland adopting "Scandinavian country where a pint of lager is seven or eight pounds" if operating costs continue to rise.

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He stated: "When the Army advertise for recruits, they don't advertise that you are going to Northern Ireland, you are going to the Gulf, you are going to Afghanistan, they advertise a positive aspect were you are going to have a skill.

"Hospitality needs to get that as well."

MPs heard poor facilities had deterred people from taking up the UK Government's three-month temporary visa for HGV drivers, and that some farm workers recruited through the seasonal scheme by agents had not known what they were coming to. Both programmes, drawn up to alleviate labour shortages post-Brexit, were said to be too short in duration and should be extended.

Meanwhile, there were calls to open up further training opportunities for UK nationals. But Michie said that wouldn't ensure farms have the workers they need, describing berry picking and similar jobs as work for younger people, often those who are taking a year out and travelling. Without opening up visa schemes, he said, Scottish growers face a retraction of activity next year.

On current negotiations between horticulture operations and supermarkets, he said: "Because of the situation we are in with migrant labour, they become very uncompetitive compared to other countries so they are getting undercut and there's likely to be more importation of fruit and vegetables from other countries, which is not great, particularly for perishable products, in terms of climate impact on that transportation."

Montgomery warned: "I don't think this labour shortage is going to be over in two years, I really don't."

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Brexit and Covid could bring 'Scandinavian' bar prices to Scotland, MPs hear - The National