Food prices set to rise if EU workers are excluded
FOOD prices may rise if the Government does not make changes to post-Brexit immigration policy, MPs have said.
Plans to restrict UK food producers’ access to workers from the rest of Europe risks undermining their competitiveness, according to the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Committee.
A significant volume of fruit, vegetables and flowers grown in the South West are picked by migrant workers, many of whom have been coming to the region to carry out seasonal farm work for decades.
But British food and farming industries face “dramatic changes” when freedom of movement from the EU ends with the post-Brexit transition period on December 31, the committee’s report said.
The study noted that people from European Economic Area (EEA) countries currently account for the majority of workers in sectors of the food industry like meat processing and picking crops.
The committee said: “The Government must be ready to make changes to its new immigration policy, or risk increased food prices.”
EFRA Committee chairman Neil
Parish, the MP for Tiverton and Honiton, said: “Leaving the EU means that the food supply sector will need to be weaned off its reliance on European workers.
“This could be a great opportunity for UK workers in the long-term, if employers are forced to improve pay and conditions. But this will take time. By leaving its plans vague and not having the proper figures to hand, the Government is effectively turning off the tap for employers, without giving them time to adapt..
“If British farmers and food producers can’t get the workers they need, we all risk higher food prices or more cheap imports produced to standards we wouldn’t tolerate here.”
He said the transition needed to be properly managed.
The committee called on the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) to monitor the situation and “urgently publish” a strategy on supporting farmers and food producers “to develop and make affordable the new technologies the Government hopes will replace a proportion of the sector’s labour force”.