Left to right: Robert Mitchell, chairman, Concordia, Hugh Robertson MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, Jim Paice MP for Cambridgeshire South East, and Adrian Barlow, chief executive English Apples & Pears, at the meeting, at Portcullis House, Westminster

Left to right: Robert Mitchell, chairman, Concordia, Hugh Robertson MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, Jim Paice MP for Cambridgeshire South East, and Adrian Barlow, chief executive English Apples & Pears, at the meeting, at Portcullis House, Westminster

Hugh Robertson, MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, told a meeting of the Parliamentary British Fruit Industry Group on Tuesday that the government’s decision to abolish the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) in 2010 risks ending a “huge British success story” in the top-fruit sector.

New regulations aimed at reducing the number of migrant workers entering the UK will limit the ability of UK growers to pick fruit, at a time when the industry is experiencing unprecedented demand to increase its output, the meeting heard.

SAWS, which brings around 16,500 foreign students into the fruit industry each year, is being restricted to handing out cards to workers from Bulgaria and Romania, cutting off all other established sources in eastern Europe and elsewhere.

Concordia chairman Robert Mitchell said that far less than one per cent of all students abscond during their stay.

“We should have no embarrassment about backing British top fruit,” said Robertson. “Without a labour source, a successful British industry will be cut off at the knees - the fruit just won’t get picked.”