Next chief urges business-friendly Brexit as EU citizens plan falls short of what retail needs

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 26, 2017

Next boss Lord Wolfson has urged the UK government to ensure that the country has a smooth and “orderly transition” as it leaves the EU or risk "years of economic decline" for the country as well as specific problems with staffing.

His plea came just a day ahead of the British government announcing details of a plan to give long-stay EU nationals the right to remain in the UK that would not address may post-Brexit staffing issues.

The CEO, who was a vocal campaigner in favour of leaving the trading bloc, said he still believes Brexit is the right thing to do and that it could be a major boost for trade if properly run.

However, he thinks the current slow and fitful progress bodes ill for the future. "We can't go careering along hell for leather. There is a huge amount of complex work to be done," he wrote in the Mail on Sunday newspaper at the weekend.

At the moment, the UK government appears to have softened its previous ‘hard’ Brexit stance in favour of a more pro-business willingness to negotiate with the EU, and Lord Wolfson believes this is the right thing to do. He also seemed to support the idea of a transition period as the deadline of having a full deal negotiated by March 2019 looks increasingly unachievable.

"The UK government and EU need to rethink the timetable for negotiation and set out options for a realistic transition period,” he wrote.

He said he is in favour of a deal that allows immigration where it is “pro-economic”. The fashion retail sector draws a large number of its employees in the UK from among EU citizens and the Next chief is supportive of this situation being able to continue.

The UK government on Monday announced that it would offer a deal whereby  EU citizens who have lived in the UK for five years or more would be given “settled status”. However, with many non-British fashion retail staff being young and not necessarily likely to want to stay in the country long term, this deal would be unlikely to fully address stores’ staffing needs.