A Bangladeshi restauranteur and founder of the annual British Curry Awards is fighting against the UK government’s so-called “Brexit Betrayal” with a new curry academy.

Enam Ali, born in Sylhet before moving to the UK in the 1970s to study, has founded Le Raj Academy in partnership with North East Surrey College of Technology (NESCOT) in Epsom, Surrey, to train the next generation of curry chefs in reaction to the government’s failure to live up to the promise of making it easier for the industry to source much-needed staff from Bangladesh.

“Staff shortages mean many of us are struggling to meet customer expectations, and it is almost impossible to expand as we would like to,” explains Ali, who was conferred the royal honour of MBE for his services to Britain's curry industry in 2009.

It is estimated that 90 percent of UK curry restaurants are currently affected by a crippling shortage of chefs, which is causing an average of two curry restaurant closures each week. Ali, the editor of ‘Spice Business Magazine’ and founder of ION TV, has previously also led a campaign to lobby for short one-year visas to bring in chefs from the Indian sub-continent to keep their businesses going.

The industry holds former UK Cabinet minister Priti Patel responsible for the worsening staff crisis since the June 2016 referendum in favour of Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU). The former International Development minister had galvanised the country’s curry industry to vote “Leave” in the referendum by claiming a Brexit vote would allow a relaxation of non-EU immigration rules and “save” British curry houses. She had argued that “uncontrolled immigration” from the EU meant the UK could not bring in the “talent and skills” from other parts of the world to support the economy.

The industry, estimated to be worth around £3.6 billion, had been assured that an Australian-style points-based immigration system would allow them to hire more staff from countries such as Bangladesh and India. However, one of Theresa May’s first announcements after taking charge as Prime Minister in July 2016 was to rule out such a system.

According to official figures, in the last 18 months, the number of licensed curry restaurants has declined by 13 percent. Over 1,000 restaurants have been forced to close their doors on the UK’s high street for good, resulting in more than 15,000 job losses.

The primary contributing factor is the UK government’s stringent immigration policy for chefs from outside the EU. The curry restaurants that succeed in filling vacancies with EU workers have also seen a decline in their business because of the cultural gap and lack of a traditional understanding of cooking styles.

According to Ali, the closure of curry restaurants is having a knock-on impact on the country’s hospitality sector as a whole, with many linked supplier services being hit by a drop in their client base. The 56-year-old hopes his new academy will help train chefs and other restaurant staff to become the curry industry stars of the future in the UK.

This year’s British Curry Awards, to be held next week, will also be dedicated to overcoming the challenges faced by the industry.