The United Kingdom is planning to grant 45,000 seasonal visas in 2024 to migrants who will work in agriculture. At a meeting with farmers, prime minister Rishi Sunak said that number could be increased by 10,000 if needed. This appears to contradict recent statements from Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
The British government has announced that it intends to award 45,000 seasonal visas next year for workers in the horticulture sector (so the production of fruits, vegetables and other plants), just like this year.
British farmers have been struggling to find enough workers due to tougher immigration rules in the wake of Brexit. This led the government to increase the number of seasonal farmworker visas from 15,000 in 2022 to 45,000 in 2023.
Up to 55,000 seasonal visas for migrant farmworkers
British prime minister Rishi Sunak also said that the government could potentially issue another 10,000 visas for farmworkers, so 55,000 total, if needed, at a farming summit in London on Tuesday (May 16).
The announcement from the prime minister came after a controversial speech held on Monday (May 15) by Home Secretary Suella Braverman at the National Conservatism conference in London organized by an US-based right-wing group. Braverman is known for her ultra-conservative views and for her hard-line stance on immigration, promising to drastically lower the number of regular migrants.
The home secretary said in her speech that workers, including in the agricultural sector, could be found in the country without relying on foreign manpower.
Braverman wants to radically reduce regular migration
"There is no reason why we can't train up enough truck drivers, butchers, fruit pickers or welders" in order to be less dependent on "low skill foreign labor," she said. The minister said her "ultimate aspiration" was to cut regular immigration below 100,000 arrivals a year. This would be a drastic decrease -- the planned number for 2023 is 700,000.
British media outlets have reported growing tension between Braverman and Sunak. Both are part of the Conservative Party, but while Braverman is seen as a hardliner, Sunak is considered more of a pragmatist.