British students should pick fruit during university gap years to help with the industry’s labour needs, according to Ukip’s spokesperson for immigration.
John Bickley said the UK must “use up the human capital that exists in this country” and said fruit picking was previously a “rite of passage” for students to earn extra cash, The Sun has reported.
It comes as Ukip pledged “zero net immigration” at their latest election policy launch, including a five-year hiatus on unskilled and low-skilled migration, The Sun said.
Ukip said it would offer six-month visas to non-Britons seeking seasonal labour in the UK. 'The number of such visas would be progressively reduced over time by the migration council as other measures are taken across the welfare and education system to increase the availability of home-grown labour,” Bickley said.
'We also want to encourage our own people to get back into that industry.
'There used to be a time when it was a rite of passage that people going through, if you like, an internal gap year in this country or on their way to university or at university, that to get some extra cash in, guess what they'd do, they'd go fruit picking.'
