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Co-op and Uber Eats have joined forces in a rapid delivery partnership. © Dave McHugh/ UNP 0845 600 7737

Co Op Uber Eats Lewes Road Brighton

Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith has hit out at Uber Eats for saying that a crackdown on illegal migration will cause takeaway prices to rise.

Takeaway apps have become a route for undocumented workers to earn a living in the UK, with illegal workers drawn to the industry by historically limited right to work checks.

Delivery riders are also known to sell their accounts or rent them out on social media to “substitutes”, who may be working illegally, with little vetting.

In a post on X, Griffith said: “Uber Eats, if you cannot succeed without the use of illegal workers, you are not a business but a criminal enterprise.”

Griffith was responding to Uber UK’s comments in accounts filed at Companies House, where the division said it “welcomed” a Home Office effort crackdown on small boats crossing the channel with illegal migrants, but warned that “new legislative requirements could have an adverse impact on our business, including expenses necessary to comply with such laws and regulations”.

But Griffith said that Uber UK must work harder to track their own riders: “As a technology optimist, I know you can solve this with innovation: location tracking, AI and biometrics.

“From pedal cadence to accelerometer-detected driving style, we all leave hard to spoof digital signatures. We track tennis ball sized objects in deep space – you can certainly figure out who is collecting from the local kebab shop!”

The Conservative Party have been vocal critics of Labour’s Employments Rights Bill, which they say will push up costs for businesses and made it harder to hire staff.

”It’s a compliance issue and your ‘customer promise’ must be a clean supply chain which contains no illegal or criminal people visiting your customers homes,” Griffith said.

City AM has contacted Uber UK for comment.

Read more

Uber’s UK arm warns on profit amid rising costs

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