Above picture: Following a surgery meeting regarding pig sector - Sam Hoste and Kevin Hollinrake MP.
I welcomed the recent announcement that 800 butchers will be given temporary visas to work in the UK to ease the current abattoir labour shortages, after weeks of pressing Government ministers to take stronger action. Pork butchers from overseas can apply up until 31 December for the visas that will allow them to work in the UK for six months.
We know how critical pig farming is to the rural and wider economy in Thirsk and Malton and I made clear to ministerial colleagues that the Government's actions to mitigate this crisis did go far enough. The high-skilled route is slow and expensive and it was clear we needed to fill this gap immediately with a temporary easing of cost and red tape. Butchering healthy pigs is incredibly distressing for farmers both emotionally and financially and it’s right the Government have now taken these steps, especially in the run up to Christmas pressures. I will continue to represent the sector in Parliament to address the long-term challenges they face.
There is a plethora of reasons for the crisis, centred around labour shortages, the Covid-19 pandemic, furlough, Brexit and new immigration rules and the expansion of jobs in other sectors. This shortage is particularly acute in abattoirs and meat processing plants, such as Karro (formerly Malton Bacon Factory) in Malton. As constituents will be aware, I held a farmers' roundtable back in July as well as hosting a visit from the Farming Minister in August. It became increasingly clear that the situation was at breaking point and I have subsequently been pressing ministers in Defra and the Home Office on this daily as well as having regular discussions with local farmers and the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership.
