NFU horticulture chairman Ali Capper said she had three meetings with MPs cancelled in the past month describing the current political situation as “chaos”.
Days after new Brexit minister Dominic Raab’s comments on UK food security have been interpreted as food stockpiling, Capper said communication with government ministers had “hit a brick wall” slamming their silence on labour shortages and horticulture funding beyond Brexit.
She told an audience at Fruit Focus: “My gloves are about to come off and I’m running out of patience.” Capper added she was having “sleepless nights” at the thought of losing half her workforce in the event of a no-deal Brexit without free movement of labour.
“July has been a frustrating month. I’ve had three meetings planned, all were cancelled because of Chequers,” Capper said. “I think we have got a brick wall in front of us and we have got to break that wall down.”
“The government announced it is stockpiling food, and it’s stockpiling medicine. If we crash out with no deal on freedom of movement, there will be no mechanism for them to come in 2019. That would be a catastrophe for the sector.
“The prospect that more than half our workforce won’t be able to enter the UK is giving me sleepless nights.”
Capper also said there were still question marks over a funding gap for farmers as EU’s match funding payments for Producer Organisations disappear when Britain leaves the European Union.
“It’s something the UK government has not given clarity about beyond 2019 and they have not committed to replacing match funding. The British Growers Association is trying to get the government to make a commitment to match funding.”
Last year, Jack Ward, chairman of the BGA said: “Unlike other sectors, fresh produce has not benefitted from direct subsidies, but the match-funding provided to Producer Organisations has proved to be an important factor for many growers.
“The absence of an effective scheme would put British growers at a distinct disadvantage to their counter-parts within the EU.”
NFU director of EU Exit and International Trade Nick Von Westenholz predicted this Autumn to be the “flashpoint” in the Brexit process after Theresa May announced she was taking personal control of negotiations.
“The big flashpoint will be this autumn when parliament will be asked to agree with what she has come back with. I think that’s when we will know if we are heading towards a no deal,” Von Westenholz said.
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