Government’s workforce policy is crippling food sector says Farmers Union

Food industry leaders have blasted the government’s complacency and intransigence following post-Brexit changes to immigration which is preventing them doing what’s needed to ensure food security and tackle rising costs.

In a public evidence session of the UK Trade and Business Commission focused on the cost of living crisis, food inflation and the UK Government’s new food strategy, witnesses described the difficulty in gaining access to the UK government to discuss post-Brexit labour shortages and said it would be a “massive step forward” if such conversations could take place. 

One witness, James Withers, Chief Executive of Food and Drink Scotland, said that the labour market had been in “turmoil” in Scotland and finding a way of “unlocking” the Home Office for a sensible conversation on these issues was vital, adding that currently they “cannot get in the door” to raise concerns about the genuine gaps that many sectors are facing. Similarly, Phil Hambling, Head of Food and Farming from National Farmers Union slammed the UK government for "strangling labour policy and limiting capacity" citing this as the single biggest issue impacting horticulture. 

Witnesses also cited how Brexit has exacerbated these issues and had a knock-on effect on the cost of living crisis, citing the weaker pound and the “tsunami” of red tape as contributing factors. They said that making the Brexit deal work more smoothly would make things less painful. 

Dr Geoff Mackey, UK Trade and Business Commissioner and Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Director for BASF, said 

“The evidence today was clear, the government’s failure to address post-Brexit changes to immigration and the labour market is having a knock on effect not just on the current cost of living crisis but also on our long term food security.

“Ministers must meet with industry leaders urgently to agree a long-term plan which will prevent acute workforce shortages before they happen, rather than their current reactive sticking plaster strategy.”

Phil Hambling, Head of Food and Farming, National Farmers’ Union, said: 

“The way we have treated labour policy since coming out of the European Union has absolutely been crippling for the entire food industry.

“The biggest single factor reducing growth in horticulture is access to people and labour. The ability for the industry to not only weather the storm like we see now, but also to grow in the future is predicated on having a labour policy that meets its needs.”

James Withers, Chief Executive of Food and Drink Scotland, said

“We somehow have to find a way of unlocking the home office to have a more sensible conversation about all this, because I'll be honest, we cannot get in the door to have a conversation, a sensible conversation about immigration.”

“Brexit has made absolutely nothing better and it’s made a lot of things worse.”