'Half the workforce left': Brexit impacting business, says Telford council leader

Councillor Shaun Davies said his administration has not taken a view either way on Brexit but said there was a definite impact on business.

He also said the Prime Minister’s proposed December election would leave a three-year gap before the area’s next local elections, and urged the opposition to come together and lobby together to get the best for the borough in that period.

Councillor Davies was speaking at a meeting of the council’s Scrutiny Assembly where he answered questions from backbench members about his Labour administration’s four-year plan, titled ‘Our programme to protect, care and invest to create a better borough’.

Responding to a question from Councillor Chris Turley about the impact of the UK’s EU withdrawal process, Councillor Davies said businesses fall into three main categories on the issue.

“The first would not be impacted one way or the other,” he said.

“The second want to stay, but if there is a bad deal or no deal, they will leave.

“The third are making plans, and spending money on them, to leave the UK.

“Across all three categories there is a theme: Businesses that aren’t investing, sitting on investment decisions, because of uncertainty.”

He added: “The amount of people, predominantly from eastern Europe, who are leaving is having an impact.

Pressure

“Anecdotally, I can tell you there is a company that broke up for a period, reopened and found 50 per cent of their workforce had gone home. They hadn’t told the employer, they just left.

“That puts huge pressure.”

Earlier that day, Boris Johnson announced he would seek a December 12 election. Parliament is expected to vote on the proposal next week.

Councillor Davies said: “There is going to be some time between the election of a new set of MPs and the next council election, almost three years when we can try to put party politics aside.”

In May’s local elections, Labour’s seat total rose from 28 to 36 out of 54.

“We are not a knife-edge council,” Councillor Davies said.

“It is almost certain we aren’t going to have a change in leadership, so why not come together and lobby together, whichever party is in charge of the Government, to get the best for the borough.

Conservative councillor Tim Nelson said his party agreed with Labour on some issues. For example, he said, they both oppose a downgrade of the A&E at the Princess Royal Hospital and amalgamation with Shropshire Council, and both want to increase opportunities for residents.

He said: “What I would ask, Shaun, is just that you consider this: Sometimes the opening request is ‘This is not political’, and then the content is deeply political.”

Shaun Davies replied that, unlike some councils, Telford & Wrekin invites opposition leaders to speak at its cabinet meetings.

“That needs to be used constructively, rather than to fire bullets at the council,” he added.