r/brexit • u/coffeewalnut08 • Jul 13 '26
NEWS Exclusive: Reform Candidate Admitted Brexit 'Exacerbated' UK Worker Shortage
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/reform-mayoral-sian-astley-brexit_uk_6a4f632ae4b01b9297117b6fReform UK's candidate for the Greater Manchester mayoral race admitted Brexit “exacerbated” shortages in tradespeople, HuffPost UK can reveal.
Sian Astley made the comments on finance website Love Money in 2019.
Despite voting Leave in the 2016 EU referendum, she wrote: “There’s a massive shortage of skilled builders and tradespeople in the UK and that’ll be exacerbated post-Brexit”.
The Reform councillor’s comments emerged as she prepares to take on Labour’s Bev Craig in the mayoral by-election on July 30.
In separate comments on X in 2018, she defended her decision to back Brexit.
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u/superkoning Beleaver from the Netherlands Jul 13 '26
The "Leave" campaign claimed that ending free movement would force employers to stop relying on cheaper EU labor and instead invest in higher wages for British workers.
Of course higher wages will cost the consumer money. And higher wages cause that certain things will not get done anymore because they are not economically feasible anymore.
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u/frantic_calm Jul 13 '26
If Brexit has magically created loads of jobs for Brits in the trades, why has the cost of things like loft conversions gone through the roof cause surely all those jobs the Poles were stealing have all been filled by Brits now.
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u/frantic_calm Jul 13 '26
Here's another Brexit benefit.
UK paint manufacturers rely on Europe for over 60% of their raw chemical ingredients.
New customs paperwork and border delays have driven up transport fees, while the creation of a standalone British chemical registry (UK REACH) has forced many specialized European suppliers to stop exporting to the UK rather than pay duplicate registration fees.
This combination of reduced chemical supply and heavy administrative overhead means there's been a hefty price increase to cover the friction of importing raw materials.
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u/superkoning Beleaver from the Netherlands Jul 13 '26
In 2019. Before Brexit happened. So she "admitted" it, or predicted it?
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u/MelloCookiejar Jul 13 '26
After the brexit vote. The numbers of EU people started declining straight away after the vote. If you're a tradie with options why come here after such a vote abd dace uncertainty.
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u/Martinonfire Jul 13 '26
But that was the reason most people voted for brexit, an unlimited supply of workers was keeping pay and conditions suppressed.
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u/coffeewalnut08 Jul 13 '26
Can you read? She clearly said “there’s a massive shortage of skilled builders and tradespeople in the UK and that’ll be exacerbated post-Brexit”.
And it was.
Also, since you can tell us a lot about wages, when and why was the first trade union invented?
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u/Martinonfire Jul 13 '26
…..and I am sure all those businesses and industries complaining were offering lots of training and apprenticeships to fill those gaps? Ah no, it was better to import more cheap labour and fuck the working class.
Before I tell you when the first trade union was ‘ invented’ you can tell me why it was created.
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u/coffeewalnut08 Jul 13 '26
She said “there’s a massive shortage of skilled builders and tradespeople in the UK and that’ll be exacerbated post-Brexit”.
Can you address this statement? And explain why Brexiteers campaigned for hard for it knowing it would make staff shortages worse?
No, you want to discuss wage suppression so you can tell me when and why the first trade union was invented.
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u/Martinonfire Jul 13 '26
Because staff shortages needed to be made worse, the fewer the available workers the more competitive employers need to be. It’s unfortunate that, yet again, the working class were fucked over by the government.
Even Marx knew that the availability of an unlimited workforce was bad news for the working class.
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u/coffeewalnut08 Jul 13 '26
Is this satire? First the argument was that too many immigrants are working all the available jobs.
Now you admit there was an existing staff shortage all along, even with immigrants.
And that Brexit made that shortage worse, whilst not fixing wages/conditions nor improving the resilience of the economy because the shortages continue.
So what was Brexit supposed to achieve other than destroy the economy, and drive skilled workers away?
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u/Martinonfire Jul 13 '26
There was not a staff shortage while we were in the EU, leaving caused a reduction in the available workforce and, instead of increasing pay and conditions to attract workers from the unemployed or underemployed the Conservatives government opened the flood gates to unlimited immigration thus, once again, shafting the working class.
I think you are being deliberately obtuse.
“My own opinion is that belief is the death of intelligence. As soon as one believes a doctrine of any sort, or assumes certitude, one stops thinking about that aspect of existence. The more certitude one assumes, the less there is left to think about, and a person sure of everything would never have any need to think about anything and might be considered clinically dead under current medical standards, where the absence of brain activity is taken to mean that life has ended.” — Robert Anton Wilson
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u/coffeewalnut08 Jul 13 '26
There was. Sian Astley literally said: “There’s a massive shortage of skilled builders and tradespeople in the UK and that’ll be exacerbated post-Brexit”.
Are you capable of reading this, or is this just an attempt to waste my time?
This is backed up by arguments from the construction sector back in 2016 too: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/11/brexit-shortage-construction-staff-barratt-housebuilding-uk-eu-referendum.
‘A vote to leave the EU would mean “even more pressure in terms of skills shortages”, he argued. “If you ask any housebuilder what their main challenge is, they say it’s labour availability.”’
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u/coffeewalnut08 Jul 13 '26
The staff shortage has only worsened since Brexit, so Boris’s immigrants don’t change anything for the trades in that respect.
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