Brexit could "decimate" the veterinary, food and agricultural sectors if access to a guaranteed access to qualified vets is lost.
The comments come from a leading Yorkshire vet, Dr Jason Aldiss, who said the UK will be “in deep peril” if a post-Brexit deal with Brussels does not include access to properly-qualified vets from other EU states.
He told the major international conference Visegrád Vet Plus, held near Budapest, that the UK and EU will need mutual recognition of professional veterinary qualifications.
And he warned that a no-deal outcome would be “the worst of all worlds.”
Dr Aldiss, Managing Director of Leeds-based veterinary services company Eville & Jones, said: “There is already a veterinary recruitment and retention crisis in the UK, and that problem is getting worse.
“Currently 45 per cent of British Government Veterinary Services posts are filled by vets from other EU member states. 95 per cent of Official Veterinarians are non-UK EU vets.”
With less than six months to go until Brexit, there is still no guarantee from Government that these individuals will be allowed to remain in post.
“Understandably, many have already chosen to leave the UK. At Eville & Jones, I am more than 50 vets short of what I need and that number is rising.
“Our recruitment programme is running at full pace but we’re not able to stem the flow of staff moving on,” he added.
Dr Aldiss, who also serves as Secretary General of the Union of European Veterinary Hygienists, cautioned that a no-deal Brexit would be the equivalent of “cutting the life-line on the UK to allow it to drift off into the wilderness.”
Figures recently released by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the veterinary profession’s regulator, show 44% of EU vets living in the UK are fearful about what the future holds.
Two in five vets are saying they are now more likely to leave, and 18% are actively looking for work outside the UK.
