THIS column is written on the day that UKIP won its first parliamentary seat and triggered me to consider some of the political issues that have given rise to their increase in popularity – namely leaving the European Union and controlling immigration.

The debate of the EU will run for another three years at least, as one political party is to offer the electorate a referendum in 2017 while none of the other parties are to give us a choice. Hence, I will leave this debate for another day.

Controlling immigration is a key issue for our country, but from an employer’s perspective we need to be very careful what we mean by ‘controlling immigration’ as the word ‘control’ is often interpreted as ‘stop’ which would be very dangerous for many employers in Somerset.

Somerset has a working population in the region of 225,000 and an unemployment rate of about 4%, so there are about 9,000 Somerset residents officially unemployed.

If 1% are unemployable and another 2% are ‘between jobs’ then there are only about 2,250 people in the entire county that are genuinely unemployed.

If you then take the ridiculously fussy nature of many of these people that they will only work for a given sum, or not work at weekends or evenings, or won’t work outside or in dirty environments, then, as we are told by many employers, there is a shortage of willing Somerset labour.

During the boom times of the early 2000s, no-one quibbled about the number of Polish, Filipino or Portuguese that were holding together parts of the Somerset economy and now, as the economy grows again, we need more workers to satisfy the demands of the growth of Somerset businesses.

We need economic migrants to come to Somerset. I deliberately use the term ‘economic’ as this cuts out any racial or cultural implications.

With the news that Hinkley Point C has got the final political go-ahead (with just EDF’s final investment decision to be confirmed), it will become even more significant that we can attract, from anywhere in the UK or overseas, skilled and committed staff as this huge project alone will need circa 10,000 employees at the peak of construction.

As employers, we need to challenge politicians from every party in the build-up to the 2015 General Election on what they actually mean by ‘controlling immigration’ and ask them how employers are expected to support the growth of their businesses and the wider Somerset economy if they cannot recruit staff with the right skills and aptitude for work.