The campaign to end the phase-out of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme has gathering pace as a Vale of Evesham MP takes the cause directly to the Home Secretary.
Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff has written to Jacqui Smith urging her to reintroduce SAWS.
“I will not stand back and watch our growers convert to arable crops because this government is obsessed with immigration and mistakenly thinks SAWS is in immigration issue,” Luff told freshinfo. “We have got to sort this one out to ensure sustainability for production of fruit and vegetable crops in the UK.”
Luff has met with two groups of growers of field vegetables in his constituency and is also calling on the industry to help itself.
“If I have a criticism of the industry, it is perhaps that last year it cried wolf - saying there would be a crisis that did not materialise,” said Luff. “Well this year it is clear to me that the crisis is biting now and it has become a serious issue. I do think the industry needs to up its game and my advice now is to push the panic button.”
Luff said he is tabling additional Parliamentary questions on the issues such as how many SAWS workers every failed to return. In his letter to Smith, whose Redditch constituency neighbours his own, he has also called for a meeting about the issue.
“Ironically the government’s insistence that it will not re-instate SAWS is making our immigration problems worse, not better,” said Luff who claims there has been an increase in permanent migration to the UK since the phase-out of SAWS began.
“I am clear that it is time for the government to take urgent action to prevent the loss of significant parts of the British horticultural industry and a consequent reduction in our food security,” he said.
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