Steve Nash, CEO of the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI), met with representatives from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on Tuesday to discuss the skills shortage.

Mr Nash in particular emphasised the critical shortages the sector was facing in the technical areas, including Light Vehicle Technicians, HGV Technicians and Body and Paint Technicians.

He cited Brexit as one of the major causes behind the skills shortage and said that apprenticeships were not enough to make up for the labour shortfall.

The IMI is urging the Government to add the key automotive technical roles to the Government’s Shortage Occupation List, potentially making it easier for employers to recruit talent from overseas.

They also called for access to the Government’s Green Occupations funding to help support the upskilling of technicians to work on electric vehicles (EV’s).

‘They may not be a silver bullet for the many issues that culminate in the skills shortage, which is affecting all sectors of the economy. But they’d go some way towards helping to alleviate the problems. And these are solutions that are within the government’s remit to offer,’ said Mr Nash.