In response to today’s immigration white paper, Philip Salter, Founder of The Entrepreneurs Network, says:

“Entrepreneurs will be disappointed by today’s immigration announcement. In survey after survey, entrepreneurs rank access to talent as the number one obstacle to growth. Yet under the proposed system, startups will face more red tape and will struggle to meet the suggested £30,000 salary threshold to hire the workers they need.

”Entrepreneurs will welcome the abolition of the cap on high-skilled workers and the resident labour market test, but this is offset by the decision to pull up the drawbridge to EU workers. This will make Britain a worse place to start and grow a business and will lead to venture capitalists looking elsewhere.

“Requiring a job in advance of moving will put off prospective European entrepreneurs who up until now have been able to experiment by working for UK startups before building their own business.

“If the Government goes ahead with these plans, it will put the UK at a significant competitive disadvantage to EU countries and result in less investment into the high-growth businesses that drive prosperity and ultimately increase the wages of all workers.”

For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Philip Salter, philip@tenentrepreneurs.org, (07919 355 290) or Sam Dumitriu, sam@tenentrepreneurs.org, (077 8060 7647)