The Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) has welcomed government plans to review EU migration to the UK post-Brexit.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd is to commission the independent Migration Advisory Committee to carry out a detailed analysis on a sector-by-sector basis of the impact of EU migration to the UK.

Director of External Affairs for the CECA, Marie-Claude Hemming, said with the construction sector requiring more than 35,000 new workers per year, it is a “positive development” ministers recognise a migration system must be put in place that “mitigates the potential impact of Brexit on the different sectors of the British economy”.

“A key part of mitigating any potential impacts of Brexit must be the immediate guarantee of the rights of EU construction workers living in the UK to ensure those who are are helping to build the future health of the UK economy can continue to do so post-Brexit,” she said.

“It is also important that the Government provides the certainty business needs by setting out at the earliest opportunity how EU migration will occur in any potential ‘transition’ period after March 2019.

“CECA looks forward to working with Government and other industry bodies to deliver solutions – in both the long and short-term – that ensure that our industry will able to both upskill the existing workforce, and attract new entrants, once Britain has left the EU.”