Business, academic and civic leaders in Cambridge have warned that one of Britain’s major economic growth cities is under threat unless the government acts quickly to restore trust post-Brexit.
Company executives and educationalists report some highly skilled foreign nationals quitting or refusing to commit to new jobs in Britain because of uncertainty over their future legal status here. It has in the past boasted of creating employment faster than China, amid a boom in the technology and bioscience sectors, which led to the city being labelled “Silicon fen”, but now there are fears of a big slowdown.
“This is a unique economic asset for Europe,” said Lord Lansley, the former Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, after a specially convened meeting to discuss the problems with local politicians and others. “There is a [political] vacuum out there and there does not seem to be a [post Brexit] plan. There are things we need and if we get them we can continue to prosper and be more successful”, Lansley added.
He has drawn up a Cambridge declaration with his colleagues meant to reassure existing academic and business staff from abroad that their presence will be protected. “We are committed to international collaboration in research, science and the exploitation of innovative, knowledge-intensive enterprises,” says the document.
Lansley says he will be pushing the British government to give acquired rights to the 9,000 European citizens living in the East Anglian city out of a total population of 124,000. He also wants to see a continuation of free labour movement to allow Europeans to come to work and study in Cambridge and says “we need free movement for them to come to work and to study here”.
Companies are coy about publicly revealing the names that have already seen resignations but at least one business, Encocam, has said that any future growth might have to come outside of the UK.
Mike Ashmead, the managing director, which makes high-spec crash test dummies, said it would be easier to have everyone working together in Cambridgeshire “but unless the government can assure us that we will keep the door open to EU labour so that we can expand the team in the UK with the people and skills we need easily and without bureaucracy and additional costs we will be forced to expand overseas”.
Antony Mattessich, managing director of Mundipharma International, which develops but also makes new drugs, said he would like to see the UK government make a distinction between low and high-tech job in any future migration strategy. “I can see the arguments for restricting migration of unskilled labour but if the government prevents the life science sector from bringing in very skilled scientists it could kill the goose that laid the golden egg.”
Cambridge is often talked about as being part of a “golden triangle” of expanding cities alongside London and Oxford. Cambridge residents voted three to one to remain inside the European Union. But the tremendous growth in Cambridge has also produced rocketing house prices, serious traffic congestion and concern about rising inequality.
A Greater Cambridgeshire city deal has been established that could bring up to £1bn for new infrastructure developments but its early bus and road initiatives have faced some local opposition.
