HOTEL bosses in the Lake District have criticised plans to enforce a £1,000 fee for EU workers, claiming that it would be a "devastating" blow to the hotel industry.

Immigration minister Robert Goodwill has proposed that companies could be charged to hire skilled workers from the European Union after Brexit. A £1,000 immigration "skills charge" is already set to be brought in this April for firms recruiting workers from outside the EU.

The Lake District Hotels Association, which is made up of 34 hotels and 20 attractions throughout Cumbria, said that the industry was already struggling to fill gaps in employment and that Mr Goodwill's proposal would lead to "inevitable job losses."

Tim Rumney, vice chairman of the association, said: "Enforcing this fee will be nothing short of devastating for the hospitality industry that contributes around £143bn to the UK economy and provides employment for an estimated 4.6 million people.

"Several of our member hotels employ European workers, many of whom have worked their way up through the ranks to management positions and built careers for themselves here and are now fearing for the future of their jobs.

"We are already struggling to fill positions from food and beverage service right up to heads of department because of an absence of good applicants.

"This policy would pull the rug out from under our ability to employ quality staff from overseas and add even more cost and red tape into our industry.

"We are already witnessing fears among our member hotels, which are losing members of staff because of Brexit concerns. This can only worsen if further financial strain is put on hoteliers employing EU workers.

“Over the past year, our industry seems to have been disproportionately affected by government legislation. Add to this the inevitable job losses that will come as a result of this fee and it puts hoteliers in an extremely difficult position."

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