A Kent MP has warned of a potentially catastrophic post-Brexit labour shortage in east Kent which could even lead to a hospital closure and the demise of businesses and jobs.

North Thanet MP Sir Roger Gale said that without migrant workers, the Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital in Margate might even have to shut.

He raised the issue during a Commons debate on the status of UK nationals in the EU.

He also highlighted the plight of ex-pats living abroad in the EU, saying they were frightened about the future and the prospect of losing their pensions.

Sir Roger said the government needed to put in place a permit scheme for both skilled and non-skilled workers to fill jobs in the NHS and farming.

He said: “I am acutely aware of the importance of the EU nationals employed in my constituency.

"If the EU citizens among the ancillary staff in the Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital – never mind the highly qualified consultants and others – were to leave, the hospital would shut.”

"If the EU citizens among the ancillary staff in the Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital – never mind the highly qualified consultants and others – were to leave, the hospital would shut" - Sir Roger Gale MP

Care homes would also be at risk, he said.

Figures obtained by the KM Group last month showed that the number of migrant workers registering for work in Kent in 2016 had fallen by 956 to 13,926. Of these, 971 were registered in Thanet.

Sir Roger said Thanet Earth, one of the largest employers in the county, would struggle to fill vacancies.

“They grow tomatoes hydroponically 24 hours a day seven days a week.

"Those tomatoes are harvested largely by Poles and Romanians. Why? Because despite my requests and the company's best endeavours, they cannot recruit British labour to do the job.

“There are necessary people – not merely the highly qualified and the skilled but the semi-skilled and the unskilled – from the European Union.”

He also spoke out over the uncertainty for thousands of people - many of them elderly and retired - living abroad in “genteel poverty” who did not yet know what their status would be.

He continued: “They are very frightened people. Contrary to popular belief the majority are not rich, living on yachts in Cannes sipping gin and lying in the sun.

"Generally, they have worked in the UK throughout their lives, paid their taxes and national insurance contributions and for whatever reason – health, perhaps or climate – have found it desirable to live in France or Spain or other EU countries.”

Many lived on UK State pensions and very little else, he said, and were worried that if they stayed, they risked losing various allowances.

He added: “They are utterly dependent upon a reciprocal EU agreement. These are significant issues. There are frightened people who want and need answers urgently”.