After a drop during the pandemic, net migration has been
steadily on the rise and is expected to hit a record high this year, British
media have reported. Official figures are expected this month.
Hardline Home Secretary Suella Braverman said at a
conference in London on Monday that there was "no good reason"
Britain cannot train its own lorry drivers and fruit pickers to drive down
immigration
But Downing Street defended the decision to grant the visas
again.
The current rules "provide us the flexibility to flex
the system depending on UK need," a spokesman said Tuesday, adding that
Britain has a "historically low" unemployment rate.
The announcement of the visas allocation comes alongside a
new package of measures to support the farming industry.
British farmers have grappled with soaring costs with the
pandemic's disruption of supply chains and the war in Ukraine driving up the
price of fertiliser, feed, fuel and energy.
Tougher immigration rules following Brexit, which ended free
movement within EU member states, have made it harder to hire workers from the
bloc, which British agriculture has traditionally relied upon.
The industry is also facing competition from imported products.
Ahead of a UK Farm to Fork Summit hosted by Downing Street
on Tuesday, the government said it will give farmers greater protections in
future trade deals and prioritise new export opportunities.
"British farming and British produce simply cannot be
an afterthought. I know that is how some of you felt in the past," Prime
Minister Rishi Sunak said in an open letter to British farmers.
The government last February announced that more than £168
million (193 million euros) in grants will be available to farmers this year to
"drive the development of new technology and innovative ways of
farming".
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