Housebuilders Issue Brexit Plea As Poll Shows UK Reliance On EU Workers

More than one in six people working on housebuilding sites across Britain come from other EU countries, rising to half of site workers in London, according to a new report. A survey of 37,000 housebuilding workers across Britain shows 17.7% are from the EU. More than half of those come from Romania, with 12% from Poland and almost 10% from Ireland. Nationwide, 15% of bricklayers , 25% of general labourers and almost 18% of finishing trades, which include plasterers, painters and decorators, come from the EU. Read more on the HBF website.

Ireland's Scrapping Of Buy-To-Let Tax Is 'Warning To Britain'

Ireland is reversing its 2009 policy that stopped landlords from claiming full mortgage interest tax relief on their rental income. Britain is introducing a similar policy in April next year. In his Budget statement made last week, Ireland's minister for finance, Michael Noonan, said landlords would be able to claim 80pc tax relief from next year, up from a current level of 75pc. Tax relief will then increase by another five percentage points each year until it reaches 100pc again. He said the policy was introduced in 2009 to "rescue the public finances" and that a housing crisis in Ireland made now an "appropriate time" to revisit it. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.