DIG FOR VICTORY

Labour's Luke Pollard

While most Britons would be all for closing our borders right now, one Labour MP is calling for an influx of people to fill fruit picking vacancies.  Luke Pollard (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) is the Shadow Environment Secretary and says that tens of thousands of Europeans are required to pick fruit and veg in British fields.  Appearing on BBC Radio Devon and Sky News on Monday he urged the government to maintain the supply of workers from eastern Europe.

Asides from the obvious imminent threat of Covid-19, many have argued that instead of persistently looking to migrant workers we should be looking to homegrown workers to fill the vacancies.  After all who did all these jobs before 2004?  It's a valid point and if, as Pollard suggests, our shelves will be empty later this year it's an absolute must that farmers begin recruiting Brits.  What better time to do so?  Most Brits are currently stuck at home, earning little if anything while they wait for government handouts.  Many are climbing the walls with boredom and would surely relish the opportunity to get outside and earn some dough in the process.  And to those who all too easily write off our own people - we have just witnessed more than half a million people volunteer to assist the NHS in their hour of need.  Such commitment totally eclipses the 70,000 figure Pollard is talking about.

Is there any great surprise that Labour looks to migration to fix a problem we could and should be solving ourselves?  In any case, with most of Europe currently locked down, Pollard is also missing one crucial point - Romanians and Poles couldn't get here even if they wanted to.