FMB Concerns Over GE Results

According to Brian Berry, CE of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), the recent results of the UK General Election ‘has left key business sectors nervous with no one political party securing enough seats to form a majority government’ and has raised concerns as to the vulnerability of the construction sector, stating that, ‘therefore it’s crucial that this uncertainty is minimised.’ However, Mr Berry does remain optimistic about potential long-term effects, particularly now it looks likely that the overall Brexit deal may be not so ‘hard’, now that Mrs May has ‘clearly not been given a mandate to approach the negotiations in this way.’

The snap decision for a General Election, and the surprising result, has left much of the country reeling in dismay, creating further uncertainty and another wobble in the £. This is not good news for industry, and even worse for the construction sector, which is already under pressure with a diminishing workforce.

Looking ahead to the future of construction

The light at the end of the tunnel, perhaps, is a softer Brexit, and the hint that migrant worker rights will be safer for longer. A more positive light could now be shed for the concerned business leaders in the construction industry, given a broad range of issues, but mostly the concern of skilled construction sector workers.

With the fear of the swift reduction of migrant workers in large numbers now a little further away, it is thought that a new framework for training can now be implemented in the UK to support the huge employment gap that would be left by those leaving UK shores.

The construction industry has been experiencing a drop in skilled workers for years, and the fear of an absence of construction workers for the future has been a real concern amongst an aging population of all types of skilled workers in the industry.

The re-introduction of incentivised apprenticeships in the last couple of years has begun a small resurgence of interest among young people, but it is currently not enough to enable the industry to manage without migrant workers in the short term.

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