People involved in the £4B UK curry industry overwhelmingly backed Brexit on the promise of future easing off of visa requirements for curry chefs from south Asia, hoping to reverse the current waves of curry restaurant closures driven by a lack of skilled chefs.
But now, as the ruling Conservative party attempts to woo the racist base of rivals Ukip, they’ve reneged on promises of easier migration for curry chefs and other skilled workers, prompting the curry industry to express keen rebrexit at having been duped.
“I am very disappointed, when Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Priti Patel, prominent figures from the governing party, they were clearly saying that they would introduce a points-based system of immigration, Australia style,” said Mr Khandaker.
“My organisation supported Brexit for several reasons but the main reason was to bring people from abroad to help our industry to survive.” People born in Britain were less likely to work the late hours required in a curry house, he said.
The official Leave campaign even sent leaflets to Muslim communities arguing that Brexit could allow more incomers from Commonwealth countries to take the place of eastern European migrants.
Ms Patel, now international development secretary, had called it “manifestly unfair and unjust” that curry houses had to deal with a “second-class immigration system” compared with EU chefs. Vote Leave also marshalled business leaders from Commonwealth countries to write to Downing Street calling for Britain to take back “autonomy in the field of migration”.
UK curry houses angry over visa betrayal
[Jim Pickard and Kiran Stacey/Financial Times]
(via Naked Capitalism)
(Image: Brick Lane, Ahisgett, CC-BY)
