Russell Lynch: How long must London wait for answers on immigration?

The phoney war will soon end as historic divorce talks with our European partners —finally — look like being triggered next week. But for thousands of bosses in London, the wait for vital answers goes on, and on.

For so long the nation’s tax cash cow, London has had to get used to its new whipping-boy status under a provincialist Government which regards the capital with deep suspicion. Stamp duty, business rates, income tax? Don’t worry, London will foot the bill.

But immigration is the critical thread woven into the fabric of our success: a word you’ll have listened for in vain in Philip Hammond’s Budget speech last week. The Chancellor might not want to mention the “I” word but among businesses in the capital I’ve spoken to recently, housebuilders for example, it’s front and centre.

London’s status as the UK’s economic powerhouse has long made it the most popular destination for international workers, with some 3.2 million foreign-born residents swelling its population in 2015.

From the EU in particular, our outward-looking capital draws 12% of its population, compared with just 4% in the whole of the UK. Most saliently for the army of employers in the capital, around 13% of the five million jobs in London — that’s 600,000 — are held by workers born in EU countries, according to the latest report from the London Assembly’s economy committee.

Its figures suggest roughly a third of all employees in the hotel and restaurant sector, 79,000, are born in EU countries, as well as a quarter of all construction workers.

Aside from those obvious dependants, our soon to be ex-partners account for a third of the workers in London’s thriving tech scene.

This isn’t just a private-sector story either: don’t forget there are 18,000 EU workers in London’s NHS, around 31% of the capital’s total.

No rights have so far been accorded to these workers for fear of “tying our hands” in the looming negotiations, in itself deeply depressing when the capital’s economic success depends so much on their contributions. But the lack of any hints at all on what could come next for them is even more concerning. especially given the capital’s unique status.

The Assembly is warning that restrictions on movement will “exacerbate” staffing pressures on the NHS, as well as the much-publicised crisis in social care.