Fresh food supplies to the UK are coming under threat because illegal immigrants are hiding in the back of lorries, it has been claimed.
Entire truckloads of imported fruit and vegetables are being destroyed if a migrant is found inside a transportation vehicle, MPs heard – with one politician claiming that this could lead to a supplies shortage.
Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, home secretary Theresa May agreed to an urgent meeting with the fresh food industry to try to find ways of better protecting imported food.
Addressing May in the Commons, Sir James Paice, the Conservative MP for South East Cambridgeshire, and a former agriculture minister, said: 'Does my right honourable friend accept that the problem of illegal immigrants does not exist only in the locale of Calais? There is ample evidence that many of them are getting into lorries as far afield as Spain, and this is particularly affecting lorries bringing fresh food into this country, as their whole load has to be condemned when the immigrants are discovered.
'Is she aware that our retail sector is becoming increasingly worried about fresh food supplies? Will she meet me and representatives of the industry to discuss ways of getting on top of this issue?'
May responded: 'I am certainly happy for either I or the immigration minister to meet my right honourable friend and representatives of the industry. We are aware of this issue, and we are looking to introduce an improved ability to identify people in lorries when they pass through our juxtaposed controls in Calais.
'But as my right honourable friend has said, the problem is that those people are often getting into the lorries further afield. Also, even if we find them at Calais, the load is still considered to have been damaged and contaminated.'
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