Retailer Next tells Britain to relax immigration rules

Next (NXT.L), one of Britain’s biggest clothing retailers, warned it may struggle to deliver its normal service in the run up to Christmas unless the government relaxes post-Brexit immigration rules to allow more workers into the country.

Britain is already facing disruption caused by worker shortages. A dearth of truck drivers in the world’s fifth-largest economy is already threatening fuel supplies and has led to some gaps on supermarket shelves, with many blaming Brexit.

Next, led by the Brexit-backing Simon Wolfson who has previously warned against cutting immigration, said on Wednesday that its clothing and homeware stores and online shop could be affected in the run-up to Christmas, Britain’s peak buying season.

“We anticipate that, without some relaxation of immigration rules, we are likely to experience some degradation in our service in the run up to Christmas,” the retailer said in its half-year results statement. Finding staff for warehousing and logistics jobs for the peak season was beginning to come under pressure, it said.