That's enough said about Chuka Umunna and his latest in a long line of deluded ramblings and unsubstantiated assertions on the non-existent " demonisation" of migrant workers.
The latest flagrant disregard for anything approaching empirical proof,logic or remotely cogent argument comes from the Food & Drink Federation.
They concocted, ( sorry conducted ) a survey that was meant to somehow meant to be authoritative and credible and impress anyone with an intellectual attention span less than an amoeba.
The survey covered, they claimed, 627 companies from across trade bodies such the Association of Labour Providers, the British Beer and Pub Association, the British Hospitality Association, the Food and Drink Federation, and the Fresh Produce Consortium.
Nearly a third of respondents to the survey, conducted between March and May, said some EU staff had already departed.
" Some EU staff ", this isn't admissible,verifiable empirical data from which one might draw a conclusion,is it ?
While the UK's economy has slowed sharply this year, evidence that the Brexit vote made an impact on the labour market is less clear.
Less clear? than what ? the ephemeral " Some EU staff " ?
The Chief Spokesdroid for this intellect-free,integrity-lite survey , Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium made the following pronouncement to the effect that:-
An abrupt reduction in the number of EU workers eligible to work in the UK after Brexit would result in significant disruption for the entire food supply chain and that this would have consequences for the availability and price of food in Britain.
Around a fifth of the 2 million EU nationals working in the UK are employed in the food and drink supply chain.
36% of companies in the survey said their businesses would be unviable without access to EU workers.
So,the British Retail Consortium has issued a threat against Her Majesty's democratically constituted government,that should the brexit process be carried out to its agreed conclusion,i.e. departure from the shackles of the EU,then the entire food supply chain for the population of the UK will be existentially imperiled by Companies withdrawing themselves from the supply infrastructure. Is that what Opies meant to say?
It seems that the egregiously exploitative Agencies ZeroHours Contracts that for decades have underpinned the systemically lazy,stupid,greedy,inefficient cheap foreign labour grubbing shennanigans of the UK Food and farming Industry have come home to roost.
In a passing nod to Realpolitik and Real Economics,the Food & Drink Federation acknowledges,much like a penitent before the Inquisition that:-
Over time [training local workers] is something that will have to happen as a result of the Brexit vote. We recognise that immigration was a big factor in the Brexit vote.
To deal with fewer foreign workers, the federation will have a strong emphasis on building skills through apprenticeships and investment in technology to support automation, it said.
How jolly big of the F&DF!
Why the hell haven't they as well as most of British industry across all sectors been pro-actively doing this over the last 40 odd years?
Then again the Labour Party & Trades Union Movement and virtually all the anti-capitalist Left maintain that unrestricted labour market competition actually increases wages! and that to argue against that is to scapegoat aka demonise immigrant /migrant workers.
Which brings us back to Chuka Umunna.
Schadenfreude.
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