CONSTRUCTION industry leaders are urging "highly valued" EU workers to return to the UK if they go home for Christmas.
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) praised the quality of workers from EU countries, saying most firms would be hit if they returned permanently to their home countries, either now or post-Brexit.
FMB chief executive Brian Berry said EU workers were "vital" to the UK construction industry, adding: "Our message to these individuals is clear - you are highly valued and we need you.
"There's a risk that those EU migrant workers who go home to their home countries for the festive period might not come back. With Brexit looming large on the horizon, EU workers in the UK are facing high levels of uncertainty over their future.
"Furthermore, since the depreciation of sterling in the summer of 2016, their wages aren't worth as much as they were previously.
"Construction employers are genuinely concerned that this mixture of uncertainty about the future and less money in their pockets will make the UK a much less attractive proposition than it was pre-referendum."
Mr Berry said the Government had not done enough to reassure EU workers that they have a future in the UK.
The FMB research into how the bosses of small and medium-sized construction firms view their EU workers found that:
• 85 per cent of construction SME bosses, who employ EU workers, say that these individuals are important in allowing their business to maintain and expand its workforce;
• 76 per cent of these firms say it would have a negative impact on the health of their business if any of their EU workers returned to their country of origin, now or post-Brexit;
• 94 per cent of firms describe the quality of their EU workers as ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
