Graeme yesterday spoke in a debate on migration. He took the opportunity to highlight the issue of the seasonal migrant workforce which the soft fruit sector in Angus needs access to.
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This feels a wee bit like groundhog day. We are the best part of two years on from the fateful Brexit vote, and still we have no resolution on what migration will look like after we leave the EU. I find myself rising in the chamber yet again to highlight its implications for a key economic contributor in my constituency—the soft fruit sector.
In the time since I first raised the matter back in late June 2016, little has changed—apart, that is, from the growing evidence of the negative impact that Brexit and the accompanying uncertainties are having. Despite lobbying by the sector and Scottish Government support for its efforts to have Westminster recognise its need to access a seasonal migrant workforce, we are no further forward. Michael Gove may have promised Scots fruit farmers news on a way forward by the end of next month, but then he went in front of the English NFU and admitted that the decision is outwith his control.
Farms in my constituency are utterly dependent on people from other countries coming to pick the fruit that they grow—many of them come back year after year. However, the anti-immigration rhetoric that characterised the Brexit debate, coupled with the falling value of the pound, has already led regular returners either to opt for pastures new or to draw up plans for a future away from Scotland.
As is noted in the Scottish Government’s discussion paper that was published before the February recess, many businesses have expressed concerns about the impact that is already being felt—concerns that are rightly shared by the SNP Government. The evidence of the impacts goes beyond anecdotal evidence. As I laid out in a debate in November last year, the co-operative organisation Angus Growers, which is based largely in my constituency, needs 4,100 workers annually. Last year, 347 seasonal employees either did not arrive or left early. As a direct consequence, the farms took a combined £660,000 hit. Angus Growers and the wider sector are bracing themselves. The 2018 season is fast approaching, and next month is when the EU workforce returns. Last year set a trend, and no one seriously expects to see it being reversed.
I will share some bang-up-to-date supporting evidence from the major farm in the Angus Growers collective. On that farm in 2016, 296 of the workforce out in the field were returners from the previous year. In 2017, that number dropped to 267. The total that is confirmed for the coming year stands at 212, which represents a drop of almost 19 per cent in just 12 months. That simply cannot be allowed to go unchecked—not for Angus, not for Scotland and not, indeed, for the rest of the UK.
A recent report in The Guardian revealed that a soft fruit farmer in Herefordshire is to move some of his company’s raspberry and blueberry growing to China, which will lead to 200 seasonal jobs being lost. Citing the lack of clarity from the Prime Minister on the UK Government’s immigration policy, Angus Davison said:
“We are already out of time”.
Mr Davison has written to Theresa May, saying that
“Unless a seasonal workers scheme is put in place, you must expect to see the steep decline of this significant rural employer and source of food.”
Do we want to have to import from China food that can readily be grown on these islands, just because the UK Government is unwilling to recognise the needs of an industry? Is that to be one of the achievements of Brexit?
Of course, migration concerns are not restricted to agriculture and seasonal workers. The Scottish Government’s analysis paper estimates that Scotland’s gross domestic product will decrease by 4.5 per cent by 2040 if migration levels are reduced to the UK Government’s target levels. That is equivalent to a fall of almost £5 billion in GDP. Across the whole UK, the impact would be smaller—a 3.7 per cent reduction. If the UK Government were to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands, as some people have suggested, Scotland’s GDP would fall by 9.3 per cent, compared with 7.6 per cent for the UK.
I welcome the fact that the Scottish Government has developed proposals and a bespoke solution for Scotland in order to seek to address the matter. That is a sensible and necessary move, given the inertia at UK level. There is an indisputable need to plan for the UK Government failing to come up with a sensible UK-wide migration policy, which looks increasingly likely. As MSPs, we need to come together and pursue what is in Scotland’s best interests. Is not that what we were all elected to do?
