Why the hospitality industry should agree to be more hospitable if it wants more overseas workers

There is a case to be made for allowing more overseas workers into the UK to help address labour shortages afflicting the industry. But first it must commit to ensure they aren’t exploited, writes James Moore

The hospitality industry makes customers feel good. The same isn’t always true for its workers (AP)

A sign of the sorry state Britain has gotten itself into is the fact that when I’m considering what to write this column on, I often find myself asking: so, what’s gone and blown up today?

It’s us, the hospitality industry said ahead of this latest missive. But it’s not so much that they’ve blown up. The industry is instead seizing up as a result of a chronic lack of staff, which could deliver a knockout blow to businesses which barely got through the pandemic.

These are the sentiments expressed in a letter to the Financial Times from more than 60 of the industry’s leading lights. In it, they appeal to the government to add multiple roles to its skills shortage list, which would make it significantly easier for them to import workers from abroad.