From Simon Dabell, Whitwell:

Listening to the news this week, as the government plan to stop non-British people from working in the hospitality, retail and care industries, it is obvious that pubs, restaurants, care homes and shops will struggle to continue to offer their services as they do at the moment.

I may be proved wrong. It may be that there are hundreds of thousands of people living in this country who are just waiting for all the vacancies to be advertised, so they can walk into a job as a retail assistant, café or pub waitress, kitchen worker or social care assistant.

However, when governments start calling industry sectors as low-skilled, then that government has got their employment strategy very wrong.

Carers, waiters, chefs and retail assistants all require skills that cannot be in any way described as ‘low’. Anyone who says otherwise, has never worked successfully in any of those sectors.

I started my employment training as a retail assistant, then continued my training as a catering assistant in a Wimpy Bar, before moving into retail management.

The skills I learnt working in those jobs — what some people call “Mickey Mouse” jobs were amongst the most important skills I gained during my working life.

Whether we believe in free movement of people across our borders or not, we are going to have to learn valuing our ‘service’ sector will be key to a successful future for both employers and employees.