UK youth should take up farm jobs done by EU migrants, says Andrea Leadsom
Britons should take up the fruit picking and farm labouring jobs currently done by European Union (EU) migrants, Cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom has suggested.
Andrea Leadsom, who withdrew from the Tory leadership race in July, said she hoped more youngsters could be encouraged to 'engage with countryside matters' and take up jobs and careers in food production.
She also insisted there would be no "bonfire" of environmental legislation when the UK left the EU, although some measures could be "significantly" rewritten.
"There are two sorts of employee who have migrated to this country. One are permanent employees who have come here from the EU or from elsewhere in the world," she said.
"As has been made very clear, it is not Theresa May's intention to deport anyone unless our European colleagues announce their intention to do likewise.
"So, she is absolutely intending that those people who come here and do a great job in our food and farming sector continue to do that."
"We could get British people doing those jobs and that tempts me to stray into the whole issue of why wages aren’t higher and so on.
"My absolute hope is that with more apprenticeships, with more young people being encouraged to engage with countryside matters, that actually the concept of a career in food production is going to be much more appealing going forward."
Investment chances
The farming industry has told the government it would struggle to survive without the seasonal flow of labour from the continent.
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) is just one of the organisations that said the uncertainty for migrant workers may affect investment and job creation.
CLA President Ross Murray said workers from the EU and beyond play a "crucial role" in the rural economy.
"In agriculture alone more than 30,000 permanent workers and an estimated 67,000 seasonal workers overseas help keep our shops and market stalls stocked with UK produce," he said.
"Farms and other rural businesses need to know that after Brexit there will still be a flexible, skilled and secure workforce so they can plan for the future, invest in their businesses and secure or create jobs.
The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers' (RABDF) 2014 independent farmer survey concluded that migrant workers were making a significant contribution to the dairy sector with one third of producers having employed foreign labour with the majority agreeing they had been a very successful option.
