Romanian workers flown in to help British farmers as industry struggles to employ locals
Worker picks raspberries in a fruit field at Boxford Suffolk Farms, in Suffolk, England. (AP Photo/Leonora Beck) - Credit: AP/Press Association Images
Up to 180 Romanian workers are being urgently flown in as pickers to help farmers across Britain after it emerged that not enough Britons registered to work on farms.
In a telling sign of the conundrums the country faces with a points-based immigration system that overlooks the value low-skilled labour, a plane filled with Eastern European workers is being rushed in to assist farmers in the South-East of the UK and Lincolnshire to stop precious food from rotting after they struggled to employed locals, despite employment levels reaching an all-time high.
The chartered Boeing 737 flight, which is the first of six to take place over the coming months by Air Charter Service, will depart from Bucharest and land at Stanstand airport on Thursday.
You may also want to watch:
The Country Land & Business Association has said that travel restrictions have made farming impossible because overseas workers are unable to fill rising vacancies.
This move comes as the government reaffirmed that it would not seek an extension to trade talks with the EU. The country also faces the worst economic crisis of a lifetime with the impacts of Coronavirus set to shrink the economy by 35% and drive unemployment to 10% of the total working population.
Most Read
- 1 Brexit regret: Meet the Leave voters who wish they hadn't voted Leave
- 2 Boris Johnson vows action over 'absurd' post-Brexit trading arrangements
- 3 Opposition parties push for probe into Boris Johnson's conduct following viral video
- 4 Defence minister Johnny Mercer 'trying to resign' - reports
- 5 Labour leader defends NHS after being kicked out of pub in Bath
- 6 No 10 says Johnny Mercer is 'valued' minister as it attempts to stop him resigning
- 7 Government scraps Brexit permits to enter Kent
- 8 Scottish Tory leader accused of 'nonsense' excuse for Boris Johnson avoiding Scotland
- 9 ‘I should not have listened to Cameron’ – Former European Commission president
- 10 How will you vote in the upcoming elections?
Before Christmas the British Meat Processor Association warned that EU labour shortages would threaten the supply of essential festive food, with rural locations finding it difficult to attract additional staff. One pub chain temporarily took pigs in blankets off the menu due to a shortage of the food.
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.
