“I want there to be a labor shortage, because that’s the way to getting productivity improvements,” Tice said. “That’s the way to get wage growth for the least well-off and that’s the way to get millions of people off benefits and back into work.”
For Tice, any youth mobility deal — a key EU objective in upcoming talks — would open “a backdoor to the freedom of movement.” Britain’s Labour government has repeatedly stressed that a return to European free movement post-Brexit is a red line in any talks with Brussels. Mindful of being accused of unpicking Brexit, it has similarly ruled out pushing a return to the customs union or single market.
But Tice said of youth mobility: “You will have lots of young people from Eastern Europe, Bulgaria and Romania, pouring into the U.K. and then finding reasons to stay here or overstay their visas. This is the thin end of opening to [EU] freedom of movement.”
Despite concerns that Britain could face acute labor shortages in sectors like healthcare and hospitality, Tice called his approach “carrot and stick” — arguing that worker shortages would force wages up and thereby encourage more participation in the workforce.
“We want a world leading-benefit system,” he said. “But if you think you can make a lifestyle choice to sit on your backside and watch telly all day, forget it.”
No deal until boats stop
Elsewhere in his interview, the deputy Reform boss dismissed the idea of reopening negotiations with Brussels entirely until France “carries out their legal obligation” to stop small boats carrying irregular migrants across the English Channel.
