Companies fearing a hard line on immigration

One Angus firm eyeing a possible move abroad

One of Angus’s biggest employers has threatened to move abroad if hardline immigration policies curtail the ability to recruit European workers.

James Porter, from Angus Soft Fruits, which accounts for 60% of Scottish soft fruit production, told Holyrood’s Economy Committee it employed around 4,000 seasonal workers from EU countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and the Baltic states.

He said the industry is completely reliant on seasonal labour with just 2-3% of staff employed locally, and while there is no problem in recruiting in Scotland in the short-term, colleagues south of the border are facing “serious problems” recruiting for next year and workers are “very worried” about the future.

Asked about the impact of not being able to recruit from the EU post-Brexit, he said: “You could either scale right back and try and match your production to the labour that was available or you could move it abroad, and there’s already a lot of talk down south about doing that because although at the moment the UK is pretty much selfsufficient in fruit from May to September and supermarkets prefer UK-produced fruit over bringing it in from abroad, if you can’t source the labour, you have no choice.

“If we couldn’t source it here we would look at moving it abroad somewhere.”

Mr Porter told MSPs there are several reasons why the industry cannot source enough labour locally, including the seasonal nature of the work, the unsociable hours, and the fact workers often have to live on the farm.

He cited one occasion where the company had gone to the job centre to recruit 20 workers to help with storm damage. He said: “Two weeks later, we didn’t have 20. To be fair, it’s pretty tough work, it’s not for everyone, but we have tried and... if someone comes and asks for work locally I’ll certainly give them a go.”

Graeme Dey, the SNP MSP for Angus South, called the revelation “deeply concerning”.

He said: “The issue of the threat posed to soft fruit production in Angus is one that I first raised in Parliament a matter of days after the Brexit vote and have continued to engage with the Scottish Government on since.

“I understand this is something the Scottish Government has, in turn, already raised at UK level and Mr Porter’s brother, Lochy, and myself are meeting Michael Russell early next month to explore the matter further.

“It would be deeply concerning, not to say extremely damaging for the local economy, were the production to follow the workforce, as has been suggested.

“What we need is for common sense to prevail and a means arrived at by which Angus Soft Fruits can continue to employ these workers on a seasonal basis. But the ball is very much in the UK Government’s court in that regard.’’

MSPs also heard from Dr Donald Macaskill, chief executive of Scottish Care, which represents around 97,000 workers in social care.

He said EU nationals make up an estimated 12.5% to 25% of the care home workforce in Scotland.

“There is a particular challenge attracting nurses to work, first of all, in social care and, secondly, to work with our older citizens,” he added.