More migrant labour needed in recession-hit UK, says business body

Britain’s main business lobby group said on Monday (November 21) that the country needed more migrant labour for greater productivity in view of soaring inflation and shrinking growth. The verdict from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) came at its annual gathering in Birmingham, Britain’s second biggest city.

The CBI conference took place after the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak slashed spending and increased taxes in budger

“We come together, once more in extraordinary times,” CBI director-general Tony Danker told delegates in Birmingham, central England.

“Britain is in the middle of stagflation — rocketing inflation and negative growth — for the first time that probably most of us can remember.

“We know how to fight inflation. We know how to fight recession. But we don’t really know how to fight them together.”

Sunak addressed the CBI on Monday. It has been one month since he took office after predecessor Liz Truss delivered an unfunded tax-slashing mini-budget that tanked the pound and sent UK borrowing costs soaring. Right now UK inflation is at 11.1 per cent. That is a 41-year high. This has meant that food and energy costs have risen in the wake of the Ukraine war. 

Consumer prices have also raced higher as demand rebounds following the lifting of pandemic

(With inputs from agencies)

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