Non-EU migrants could plug farm labour gap

Gove says UK should look to workers from Ukraine

Michael Gove has signalled that Ukrainian workers will help plug critical labour shortages after Brexit.

The Conservative minister said the UK Government must think about allowing non-EU migrants into the country to fill job vacancies in the soft fruit and fish processing industries.

Scotland’s £115 million soft fruit industry is based in Tayside and Fife but is under threat from a lack of workers.

British fish processing provided more than 13,000 full-time jobs in 2016, 60% of which were based in the Grampian and Humberside regions, according to industry body Seafish.

Speaking at a Holyrood committee, SNP MSP Gail Ross asked Mr Gove: “I think some of these sectors have already seen a fall in people wanting to come here from the EU, so how will the UK Government address the issue of temporary and seasonal labour, permanent labour and skilled and unskilled labour for the farming and food production industries, knowing we rely on it so heavily?”

The Environment Secretary said the Government is looking at bringing in labour from outside the EU to fill posts because improving economies in eastern Europe have cut the flow of their citizens to these shores.

Mr Gove said: “We all have to think about looking potentially further afield, it’s not just an issue for the UK but an issue for other countries in western Europe, and that means that we will need to think in the future about how we can make sure that workers from say the Ukraine or other countries who want to come here can do so in an appropriate fashion.”

He added: “Of course, one of the things that I’m well aware of, having visited soft fruit growers in Angus and elsewhere, is that seasonal workers in particular are a critical part – for the moment – of making sure that growers can continue to run effective businesses.”

The industry is desperate for the immediate revival of the seasonal agricultural workers scheme, which allowed non-EU migrants to come to the UK temporarily but ended in 2013.

The issue is being investigated by the Migration Advisory Committee, which is looking at how to meet the labour needs of British firms.

Meanwhile, Mr Gove was not able to say when geographical protections for Scottish favourites Stornoway black pudding and the Arbroath smokie would be protected in law after Brexit.

He said he is anxious this will happen soon, but added the negotiation process must be respected.

Environment secretary Michael Gove. Picture: Getty.