LONDON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- British businesses will pay a heavy price if Theresa May's government fails to protect access to a European workforce, London mayor Sadiq Khan said Tuesday.

Khan gave his warning in response to a report released Tuesday by the Immigration Advisory Committee.

The report recommends free movement from the EU should end after Britain leaves the European Union. Workers from EU member states coming to Britain after Brexit would no longer be given preferential access to Britain over no-EU immigrants, if the government accepts the recommendations.

Instead Britain should consider embracing a Canada-style system in which there is no preferential access to the labor market for citizens of any other country, says the committee. It also recommends that it should be easier for higher-skilled workers to migrate to Britain.

The committee also wants the government to scrap a limit on highly-skilled workers altogether which is currently set at 20,700 each year from non-EU countries

Khan described the report as a missed opportunity to protect jobs and economic growth that are at grave risk from what he says is "May's appallingly mishandled approach to Brexit, and from a government that is only motivated by its ideological and economically illiterate migration target -- regardless of the cost to real people".

He commented: "London's entrepreneurialism and economic growth is partly down to the flow of ideas and people from Europe and around the world. British businesses will pay a heavy price if the government fails to protect their access to a European workforce at all skill levels in the future."

The mayor said more must be done to give local workforces the skills needed for the jobs of the future, adding that responsibility lies squarely with the government.

"Any decision by this Government to prioritize reducing immigration at the expense of economic growth will damage our country for years to come," said Khan.

The advisory committee was set up by Member of Parliament Amber Rudd when she was home secretary to inform Britain's migration policy after Brexit.

The Russell Group, which represents Britain's most prestigious universities, said the report's recommendations are "unimaginative and unworkable".

The group's CEO Tim Bradshaw said: "This was a real opportunity to steer the UK towards a more modern and intelligent immigration system, but the recommendations are unimaginative and, we believe, unworkable."

For the past 45 years, EU citizens have been able to enter Britain freely as part of the bloc's free-movement rules.

The Guardian newspaper commented that the new report is likely to strengthen the hand of those who want Britain to take a tough stance in the Brexit negotiations.

Political commentators say high level of immigration into Britain was one of the key reasons for the decision in the 2016 referendum to leave the EU.