Arch-Brexiter Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin pushes for work visa for EU pint pullers

Brexit-backing Wetherspoon pubs boss Tim Martin has added his name to the list of those wanting to relax work visa rules for EU migrants.

Martin, who toured the country’s Wetherspoons pubs espousing the benefits of a hard Brexit, says that the UK should make it easier for lower-skilled EU workers to relocate here.

He’s one of many pub and restaurant bosses who told the Telegraph that recruitment in the industry was so poor that many sites are having to close to lunchtime trade.

Read more: Wetherspoons in the red as Tim Martin calls for end to lockdown ‘mayhem’

Martin said: “The UK has a low birth rate. A reasonably liberal immigration system controlled by those we have elected, as distinct from the EU system, would be a plus for the economy and the country.

“America, Australia and Singapore have benefitted for many decades from this approach. Immigration combined with democracy works.”

Industry trade body UKHospitality has estimated that there is a shortfall of about 188,000 workers, blaming the exodus on successive lockdowns imposed by the Government. 

EU nationals living in the UK could apply for settled status at no cost, giving them the right to live and work here indefinitely, however the Covid-19 pandemic has also meant a relocation of thousands of citizens back to their home countries.

The bosses of City Pub Group and TGI Fridays told the Telegraph that an inability to fill roles had made reopening harder for pubs and restaurants.

Read more: Wetherspoon to invest £145m in new pubs and upgrades

Clive Watson, executive chairman of the City Pub Group, said some sites weren’t able to open for lunchtime trade and the recruitment situation was “another kick in the wotsits”.

It comes as the industry also called on the government to stick to its 21 June reopening timetable or see more hospitlity companies go to the wall.

“A delay would push many businesses closer to the cliff edge of failure, meaning more job losses,”  said Kate Nicholls of UKHospitality.

It’s not the first time the Wetherspoons boss has raised eyebrows. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic Martin told 40,000 staff at his company’s 814 pubs in a video that they should feel free to take jobs at supermarkets such as Tesco while Wetherspoon pubs remain closed.

He said: “If you’re offered a job… if you think it’s a good idea, do it.”

Read more: Save the quintessential British pub by lowering beer duty, MPs urge