Britain should ban unskilled workers such as “fruit pickers in Romania” from entering the UK, a Conservative candidate in the fresh produce heartland of Kent has said.
Anna Firth, a Tory councilor who is hoping to stand in the Rochester and Strood by-election, told a hustings this week that Britain needed a “sensible immigration system”, which would only allow in people with a certain level of skill, the Guardian newspaper reported.
“Once we have that system in place then I think we will have a sensible immigration policy. One that says if you come to this country with skills we really need – say you’re a brain surgeon or something in Australia as opposed to someone who has no skills, a fruit picker in Romania – then we say yes,” Firth reportedly said.
She was speaking at a hustings where Tory officials initially banned national media from reporting, although the Guardian said it has since obtained a recording of the evening.
A by-election is to be held in the constituency of Rochester and Strood, Kent, on 20 November after previous Conservative MP Mark Reckless defected to UKIP.
He will be standing for UKIP in the by-election, while Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Green Party have also put forward candidates, the BBC reported.
The Rochester and Strood region covers two towns in the Medway as well as the surrounding countryside and heartland of the British top fruit industry, where much of the seasonal labour is done by Eastern European workers.
