UK live music sector facing staff shortages, migrant workers needed

The live music industry in the UK is facing massive staff shortages as gigs begin to return - industry bodies have written to the UK prime minister Boris Johnson calling for the government to help fill vacant roles, NME reports. They suggest the government "temporarily ease immigration requirements for the large numbers of workers, particularly from the EU, who have returned to their homelands during the lockdowns". A study in 2020 by the UK’s Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence estimated that 1.3 million migrants left the UK between July 2019 and September 2020.