No matter how hard you try to ignore it there’s no getting away from the fact that Brexit is looming. Although the Brexit debate is incredibly divisive and there will be more fallout from the result, it seems that with the right foundations, some areas of the construction industry will continue to slowly build and soar into 2023 (see what we did there?!) despite the present economic uncertainty. However, as some construction firms rely heavily on skilled and experienced EU-labour there is a potential risk that EU nationals will be deterred from working in the UK and therefore these companies could suffer a skills shortage amongst their workforce and supply chains that may be difficult to overcome quickly, if at all. Whilst some argue that the UK is unable to produce a construction workforce with the relevant skillset or indeed, the inclination to work in the industry either because of the physicality of the work/attractiveness of alternative careers, as well as possibly requiring higher pay than their EU counterparts, others suggest that the UK construction industry falls behind other countries with regards to investing in, creating and promoting apprenticeship programmes and incentives as well as quality vocational training schemes for young people. Therefore, there is an opinion that we only have ourselves to blame, relying on cheaper skilled labour for the past few decades alongside an indomitable belief that, bar a couple of recessions and dry spells, little could topple the UK construction industry and over the past few years it has been positively thriving. The same principle could be applied to David Cameron, although in his case it was his woefully overblown confidence in his own invincibility and importance alongside his firm belief that the people of the United Kingdom would come through for him reinforcing his position as leader of the country. How wrong he was! Brexit was a wrecking ball to a Prime Minister already weakened by gaping cracks (Sorry, the puns, like no-deal votes, just keep coming and there’s no sign of them stopping!). This wasn’t just a simple case of slightly misjudged complacency – it was an irresponsible and reckless gamble and nearly three years on, and two no-deal defeats later, we are still no nearer a resolution.
Prime Ministers will come and go, so losing Cameron and May is no hardship and once Brexit is finalised(?), they will wash their hands of it and move on – Cameron did so the day after the referendum and left everyone else under the rubble (there’s another one!). However, our established and trusted, and often family-run or founded, construction firms are irreplaceable, if we lose them to Brexit and its associated insecurities, then there’s little chance of rebuilding them and that is unforgivable.
Here, at the Solinear office, we are keeping a keen eye on proceedings and whilst we have different opinions on the thorny issue of Brexit, we do all agree that we are confident of our future post-Brexit.
All Solinear products are designed and manufactured in Great Britain by our group of specialists and installed by Solinear’s very own reliable, well-equipped and highly skilled team of fitters so we’re able to fully function as normal, during, and after the present and potential future Brexit fiasco, without any interruptions to our production and schedule, guaranteeing customer satisfaction.
Whatever the outcome, we sincerely hope that the UK construction industry can remain stable and equipped with the right tools to withstand the aftershocks of Brexit.
We apologise for the terrible construction related puns throughout this blog post!
