The British Hospitality Association (BHA) has defended the role immigrants have played in staffing the hospitality industry, after a damning report on immigration by the House of Lords.

The House of Lords’ report suggested immigration has had little or no effect on the economic well-being of Britons.

It added that competition from immigrants has had a negative impact on the low paid, as well as training for UK workers, with peers urging the Government to implement a limit on immigration.

BHA chief executive Bob Cotton, who recently came under fire for suggesting some UK workers were so unmotivated as to be “unemployable”, said that while it was not his place to comment on the wider impact of immigrants highlighted in the report, hospitality had “without a doubt” benefited greatly from immigration.

Cotton said: “Having a ready supply of great labourers from the EU has without question been a great benefit to our industry.”

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By Kerstin Kühn

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