BMPA backs CBI report to resolve labour shortages
The report, ‘Open and Controlled – A New Approach for Migration’, recommended scrapping arbitrary immigration targets and called for a system that assesses the contributions from migrants.
The report added that the system should remain open to allow the UK economy to grow by taking advantage of the economic benefits, as well as recommending the right controls to be put in place to build public trust.
BMPA believed that if these recommendations were implemented then it would avoid a “major problem” in the food and drink industry.
“The BMPA supports the recommendations set out in the CBI’s latest report and will be adding its voice to calls for Government to heed the warnings coming directly from food businesses up and down the country,” said BMPA’s CEO Nick Allen.
“This detailed report presents a clear business case for how future immigration policy should be shaped so that it fosters rather than hinders economic growth once we have left the EU.”
BMPA described the UK meat industry as “vulnerable” in terms of shortages of workers across all levels.
According to the meat body, more than 85% of official veterinarians employed to audit abattoirs in the UK are EU nationals and an average of 63% (rising to 80% in some cases) of production staff in meat processing plants are from the EU.
Earlier this year, GlobalMeatNews highlighted the plight of several meat organisations from across the globe about the importance of foreign workers to the agricultural sector and how the industry could decline without them.
