Conservatives plans for immigration would sell the Lake District down the river - MP

Local MP Tim Farron is urging the Home Secretary not to go ahead with plans which would make it much harder for businesses in the Lake District to recruit staff.

The Centre for Social Justice, co-founded by Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, is calling for a proposed £36,700 minimum salary threshold for all new foreign workers.

Back in July, Tim led a group of hospitality leaders, including representatives from Lake District Country House, Windermere Lake Cruises and Mountain Goat Tours, to meet with the immigration minister to make the case for the current proposed threshold of £30,000 to be lowered.

Tim said: "The proposals that are being presented to the Home Secretary would sell the Lake District economy down the river.

"The proposed £36,700 salary floor, which is around twice the average wage in hospitality, is completely unrealistic and seriously harmful to our vital local tourism industry.

"There are over 20,000 non-UK staff working in our tourism and hospitality industry locally. And with only a few hundred people registered as unemployed in Westmorland and Lonsdale there is no untapped pool of local labour waiting to fill the thousands of vacancies this Government will force on the industry.

"If this Government really cares about protecting the Lake District economy, then they should be listening to local hoteliers not Conservative think tanks."