Pigs being culled and fruit rotting on trees due to staff shortages, say MPs

PIGS are being culled and fruit is rotting on trees as a shortage of visas for foreign workers threatens a food and farming crisis, say MPs.

The lack of fruit pickers, abattoir staff and lorry drivers needs urgent Home Office attention, they warn.

The lack of fruit pickers and abattoir staff due to a shortage of visas for foreign workers needs urgent attention, MPs warn

Neil Parish, chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, said: “Labour shortages in the food and farming sector have caused a human and animal welfare crisis.

“But the Home Office is simply not listening.

“It is not supplying enough visas for foreign workers in a timely, efficient manner.

“Employers need workers and cannot get them in time.

“Pigs are being culled and wasted because there are not enough butchers in the abattoirs. Fruit is rotting on trees and crops are not being planted.

“We need the Home Office to respond to what farmers and businesses are saying and to stop blaming the sector for being at fault.

“We need an effective cross-Government food and farming labour strategy that deals with immigration and other issues – and we need it fast.”

Neil Parish, chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, said ‘the Home Office is simply not listening’