UK-Bangladeshi restaurateurs march to demand relaxed immigration rules

Several hundred British-Bangladeshi restaurateurs have demonstrated in front of the House of Commons in an effort to pile the pressure on Theresa May's government to save British curry industry.

A group of them went inside the Commons to meet MPs and ministers to lobby to relax immigration rules for chefs and cook and stop UKBA raids harassing businesses on Tuesday.

The “Save our Curry Industry” demonstration was organised by Bangladesh Caterers Association (BCA).

BCA represents thousands of restaurants all over the United Kingdom.

Leaders and restaurateurs met MPs in committee room 10 and discussed the issue.

Among the speakers were Rushanara Ali MP, Paul Scully MP, Rosie Winterton MP, Mike Gapes MP, Stephen Timms MP and BCA leaders Oli Khan, Pasha Kandaker and Kamal Yakub.

Anne Main MP, Rupa Haque MP, Karen Buck MP, Baroness Uddin and many others also spoke.

A total of 35 MPs supported the cause of saving the British curry industry, BCA Secretary General Khan told bdnews24.com.

“We, the restaurateurs from across the country, have come to join this event. Many of them raised their concern with the local MPs inside and urged them to save this £4 billion industry," he told bdnews24.com.

“Enough is enough,” former BCA president Khandoker said. “We have suffered long enough. We had similar demonstration a decade ago and we want to see a positive change of policies. Otherwise, we would see hundreds of small businesses closed.”

The current government’s anti-immigration policy has created staff shortages in the industry, the restaurateurs allege.

At one point, the British curry industry was the biggest job sector for Bangladeshis in the UK with over 100,000 British-Bangladeshis employed in the sector, according to them.

There are over 12,000 Indian and Bangladeshi restaurants in the UK.

Second and third-generation Bangladeshis are not interested in working in the sector and they have become professionals in various fields, the British-Bangladeshi entrepreneurs said.

This has created a vacuum in the field, especially for chefs and cooks, according to the restaurateurs.

They claimed every week two Bangladeshi restaurants are closing because of staff shortages.

Industry magazine Curry Life’s Editor Syed Belal Ahmed said, “Brexiteers in this government fooled the people of this industry before the EU referendum in 2016. Former Tory minister Prity Patel asked restaurateurs to vote to leave the EU.

"‘We can take back control of our immigration policies, save our curry houses and join the rest of the world' - this was a false promise.

"Now is the time to tell the politicians that we want real action and no more false promise!” Ahmed said.

Vice chair of All Party Parliamentary Group on Bangladesh Paul Scully MP said, "There is real passion about getting things changed. As ever we need to make sure everybody works together, everybody is unified and say to the government this is the path to change."