Migration report fails rural economy

A major report into the UK's future immigration policy has published a report setting out the importance of seasonal workers from Europe to farming but has stopped short of calling for a new seasonal agricultural workers scheme to be introduced.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the body tasked by the Government to provide advice on a new immigration policy outside of the EU, published its report on 18 September following a year long review which included evidence from the Countryside Alliance.

The report set out that 99 per cent of seasonal agricultural workers are from the EU and acknowledges that "it is difficult to imagine a scenario in which this workforce can come from the resident labour market".

The report recognises that if no new seasonal scheme is introduced "it is likely that there would be a contraction and even closure of many businesses in parts of agriculture in the short-run". It also states that failure to allow for seasonal workers "may lead to modestly higher prices for consumers". However, the report stops short of calling for a new scheme to be introduced. It also states that any new scheme should be "restricted to genuine seasonal agricultural workers" and proposes that employees should pay an "agricultural minimum wage" to reduce reliance on cheap labour.

Head of Policy at the Countryside Alliance, Sarah Lee commented: "While we are pleased the MAC has recognised the importance of seasonal workers from Europe to agriculture, it is disappointing that their importance to other sectors of the rural economy, such as game farming and forestry, has not been properly explored.

"We are disappointed that the MAC has not used this opportunity to call for a new seasonal agricultural workers scheme to be introduced and has instead chosen to focus on the conditions around any new scheme.

"While it is right that we train and encourage our own workforce, we must not forget that many sectors of the rural economy are labour intensive and there will be a need to recruit workers from Europe and beyond for the foreseeable future if these businesses are to remain viable."