Angus South MSP, Graeme Dey, marked his 150th speech in Parliament yesterday by underlining the importance of continued EU migration to industries within his constituency.
Speaking in a Migration Debate, Graeme Dey MSP, voiced concerns of the Angus soft fruit industry who are dependent on workers from the EU – hiring more than 4,000 seasonal EU staff across Angus Growers’ farms.
Since the vote to leave the EU, the industry has already noticed a significant drop in the number of seasonal workers coming to the North-East, with many worried that situation will only worsen after Brexit.
You can watch Graeme’s speech here:
I was attending the Royal Highland Show on the day that the outcome of the referendum on European Union membership emerged. As I drove home, I took a call from a prominent figure in Scotland’s soft fruit sector. He was utterly aghast at the result and was already processing its potential impact on his industry, given its reliance on migrant workers. I committed to working with him and his colleagues to address the damage that Brexit might inflict on a sector that contributes more than £47 million a year to the economy of Angus.
Astonishingly, more than 500 days on from that vote, the question remains of exactly where we are in terms of the soft fruit sector—and indeed wider Scottish agriculture—having confirmed access to the workforce that it needs.
The UK Government is no further forward in providing the certainty, but we are certainly already seeing the consequences of the decision to leave the EU.
There will be those who point out that there is still adequate time for reaching a decision on freedom of movement and on whether special measures might be needed or implemented to cater for the agricultural workforce or the rights of EU nationals who already live here. After all, we have been told that the UK Government wants to strike a deal on the status of EU nationals who already reside in the UK, and seasonal workers will still be able to come to the UK until March 2019.
That ignores two things. First, it ignores the continuing emotional toll being exacted on our fellow Europeans who have made Scotland their home—something that I was reminded of yesterday when a French constituent visited one of my surgeries seeking reassurance as to what the future might hold, not just for her but for fellow immigrants who would want to follow the path that she trod many years ago.
Secondly, in the case of seasonal agricultural workers, although they might be able to come here in the short term, will they still want to? The evidence is mounting that the answer to that question is no—with all the economic consequences that that carries for Scotland.
All of us are aware of reports that a shortage of migrant farm labour is emerging. Cornwall, which voted to leave the EU, has had particular difficulties. So too has the apple industry in England. What of Scotland? What has been happening here? When Mike Russell and I visited Angus Growers in Arbroath earlier this year, we spoke to some of the EU citizens who work there. We heard from those key contributors to the local and wider economy that they felt unwelcome as a result of the Brexit vote and that the collapse in the pound’s value meant that coming here was less financially attractive. We heard that going to Germany, where their skills are wanted and they would be paid in euros, looked to be a better option for 2018. The fact that the minimum wage in Germany has subsequently gone up will only strengthen the pull to a country from which the commute home is far easier.
As the Scottish Government noted in its response to the Migration Advisory Committee’s call for evidence, the demand for seasonal agricultural workers means that there is a risk that even the perception of the UK being unwelcoming—regardless of any actual barriers—could result in workers from EU member states choosing to go to other countries, such as Germany. That document also rightly highlights that the recruitment of local people alone could not address the problem, especially owing to the low unemployment levels in rural areas.
As I touched upon earlier, clear evidence is emerging that Brexit is already leaving its mark on the soft fruit sector.
- Willie Rennie:
Will the member give way?
- Graeme Dey:
Absolutely.
- Willie Rennie:
The member is exactly right about this issue. Does he also recognise that the soft fruit sector has grown massively in recent years, so that even if we wanted to go back to using only Scottish workers, there would not be enough of them because the industry is so much bigger now?
- Graeme Dey:
Willie Rennie is absolutely right about that.
The problem that is emerging is that fewer workers are turning up this year and then hanging around until the tail-end of the season, when they would usually have three days a week of relatively well-paid work and might use the rest of their time to tour Scotland.
I acknowledge that other factors might be at play. It has, for example, been suggested to me that a contributory factor to the lack of available workers at the end of the season is that the level of unemployment benefit now being paid in Bulgaria is linked to the earnings that are accrued in the three-month period prior to a person seeking such support. It might therefore pay Bulgarians to head home on the back of a period of full employment rather than what is available to them late in the year. However, Bulgarians make up only a small proportion of the migrant workforce, so that would only partially explain away the early departures.
What specifically has the impact been? One organisation that was cited in the Scottish Government’s submission is Angus Growers. I am grateful to that organisation for allowing me to share with the chamber details of what has happened across its 18 farms this year.
Angus Growers needs 4,100 workers annually. This year a total of 347 seasonal employees either did not arrive or left early, giving little notice. That is 8.5 per cent of the workforce. The group has had to pay 35,580 overtime hours to address the labour shortages. The cost of overtime, training and transport between farms is estimated at a shade under £225,000. Sitting alongside that and despite the overtime spend, a total of £436,000 worth of fruit was either left unpicked or had to be downgraded to grade 2.
Presiding Officer, in total, those farms took a £660,000 hit, courtesy of having fewer workers at their disposal. If not entirely, that is certainly largely because of the Brexit decision. No one can reasonably suggest that things are going to get better, at least, not any time soon.
The NFUS believes that mechanisms to allow access to workers must be introduced, so that nothing impedes that access in spring 2019. It is not prescriptive about the solution, but one possibility is the reintroduction of the seasonal agricultural workers scheme, which was abolished in 2013 after having been in place for 60 years. Scotland—indeed, the wider UK—needs those individuals with their skills and work ethic; a new SAWS would be a way to achieve that. The NFUS states that the previous SAWS restrictions, with quotas and people working for no more than six months, would need to be looked at, the latter owing to the expanded use of polytunnels, which has extended the growing season. When we refer to seasonal migrant workers in the context of soft fruit, we are talking about people who are now here for up to eight months of the year. A new SAWS would have to reflect those changed circumstances.
Presiding Officer, to conclude—
- The Deputy Presiding Officer:
Yes, please.
- Graeme Dey:
I have sought to be as measured as possible in laying out the situation that the industry faces, but there is no getting away from the fact that, unless measures to safeguard access to the workforce are implemented quickly, the industry will have serious problems to contend with next year.
- The Deputy Presiding Officer:
Come to a close, please.
- Graeme Dey:
Beyond that, they could face decimation
