With the budget over, our focus now turns to the EU In/Out Referendum which will be the most important vote the UK public will ever have to collectively make and takes place on the 23rd June and what either outcome could mean for the cleaning industry.
Professional cleaning is undeniably now a global industry and many of the regulations have been globally focused for some time. Machiney standards are governed by The International Electrotechnical Commission, not the EU, the United Nations have adopted the Globally Harmonised Standard (GHS) criteria for chemicals and the World Health Organisation (WHO) is the key driver of health standards but one of Europe’s most divisive issues is immigration.
The UK cleaning industry depends greatly on migrant labour, it’s not widely appreciated but migrants from Europe are actually net contributors to the UK economy and most employers find them to be hardworking. In addition to that, with the average age of the UK population rising every year, the future prosperity of the nation could well depend on young migrant labour, there are now more people aged over 65 than there are under 16.
The industry also has very close links to Europe and we ask ourselves would our relationship with partners be affected if we were out of the EU. A number of surveys found that the clear majority of the most credible analyses shows that being part of the EU has delivered a net economic benefit to the UK. A British exit from Europe could hit economic growth and could lead to years of uncertainty but politicians from the ‘Out’ campaign have their own statistics which can prove the opposite.
A crystal ball would be needed to adequately answer the question, should we stay or should we go but what is for sure is that the poll date has been set, there will be arguments for and against which will get heavy media coverage and we can only hope that the debate stays focused on the issues.
