UK promises 45,000 seasonal agricultural worker visas

Despite appeals from inside the ruling Conservative party to reduce immigration, the UK government vowed on Tuesday to grant 45,000 visas for seasonal workers in the agricultural sector next year.

Following a decrease during the pandemic, net migration has been slowly increasing and is anticipated to reach a record high this year, according to British media. This month, official figures are expected.

Hardline At a conference in London on Monday, Home Secretary Suella Braverman stated that there is "no good reason" why Britain cannot educate its own lorry drivers and fruit pickers to reduce immigration.

However, Downing Street defended the decision to renew the visas. The present rules "provide us with the flexibility to flex the system depending on UK need," a spokeswoman said on Tuesday, adding that Britain has a "historically low" unemployment rate.

The allocation of visas coincides with the unveiling of a new package of initiatives to boost the farming business. British farmers have faced rising prices as a result of the pandemic's disruption of supply networks and the conflict in the United Kingdom.

Tougher immigration laws in the aftermath of Brexit, which abolished free movement among EU member states, have made it more difficult to hire workers from the bloc, on which British agriculture has traditionally relied.

Imported products are also a threat to the industry.

The government stated ahead of a UK Farm to Fork Summit held by Downing Street on Tuesday that it will provide farmers more protections in future trade accords and prioritise new export prospects.