As Brexit appears to be just around the corner, people from Germany, Austria and Switzerland state that they are no longer interested in moving to Britain.
The Maxwell-Scott European attitudes towards Brexit report features results from new study conducted in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It found that 80% of participants would no longer move to Britain due to Brexit.
The Maxwell-Scott report shows that there was little difference in opinion between genders with 75% of participating women no longer wishing to move to Britain considering Brexit in comparison to 77% of men. There was, however, a significant difference between generations. In fact, 72% of the survey participants who stated that they would still move to Great Britain despite Brexit were 40 years old or above. This is a significant proportion of the 20% of participants who indicated that they would move to Britain which suggests that the older generations are far more positive about the possible outcomes of Brexit.
There were two main reasons offered as to why participants would not move to Britain due to Brexit. Firstly, 23% of participants specified that the uncertainty surrounding Brexit was the main reason why they refused to consider a move. Comments such as “the political situation and the future of the country are just too uncertain at the moment” were a common sentiment.
Conversely, several participants then also specified that they feel that hostility towards foreigners has increased during the course of the Brexit process. However, again there were those who remained more positive with some participants arguing that “Brexit will be cancelled after all” and that “I’m interested in the country and the people so I won’t let the political situation stop me.”
Maxwell-Scott International Marketing Director, Julia Munder, said of these findings:
“It is very disappointing to find that the UK market is no longer attracting as much talent as it did before Brexit and that opinions have shifted so dramatically. Nevertheless, I am not surprised as it was as if after the referendum a tap was suddenly turned off in terms of talented European potential employees. Professionally this certainly means that growth as a business, and an economy more generally, will be highly affected. But personally, as a German living in Britain, it is very sad that this uncertainty is discouraging a move to the UK as it is one of the best challenges that I have ever untaken.”
Nevertheless, despite a looming Brexit, some SMEs are still experiencing growth in the European markets. Luxury leather company Maxwell-Scott reports that from January 2019 to April 2019, German revenue was up by 21% with 33% more visitors to the site in comparison to the previous year. This means that regardless of Brexit, an international perspective remains central to growth for SMEs like Maxwell-Scott.
