Watch my speech on why our hospitality sector needs a UK-EU Youth Mobility Scheme

Trying to boost growth without fixing our trading relationship with Europe is like driving with the handbrake on – and there are few places where this is more apparent than in the hospitality sector.

In 2023, official figures showed hospitality vacancies had risen by 72% since Brexit, while the number of EU workers in the industry had fallen by 26%.

We’re not immune to this in South Devon.

Our hospitality sector is the beating heart of our local community, but again and again, when I meet owners, they all tell me they’re struggling to recruit staff.

A Youth Mobility Scheme with the EU would help ease these pressures – and today, in a Westminster Hall debate, I called for the Government to consider it.