Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Bill Wiggin
Main Page: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)Department Debates - View all Bill Wiggin's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme
Bill Wiggin Excerpts(6 years, 10 months ago)
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Bill Wiggin (North Herefordshire) (Con)
I will be very brief, Mr Gapes. I agree with everything I have heard from my hon. Friends on the Government Benches. More than 20,000 fruit pickers come into my constituency alone every year, and the people who employ them constantly make this plea: if there is a seasonal agricultural workers scheme, the people in it must stay working on the farms that work hard to apply for them to come. There must be some degree of stickiness to stop those people disappearing into the local economy and doing other things. The administration of such a visa will be expensive. The whole purpose of all this is to ensure that businesses are competitive, so it is critical that we keep the costs of any scheme down and ensure that the people who apply come and work for the people who go to the trouble of hiring them.