UK / Seasonal migrant workers scheme closes to help British into work | UK news | theguardian.com

Experts warn closure of agricultural scheme, which brought 21,250 Romanians and Bulgarians to Britain every year, will lead to sharp rise in fruit and vegetable prices

A seasonal horticultural scheme, under which short-term migrants from Romania and Bulgaria picked a third of the British fruit and vegetable crop, is to be closed, Home Office ministers have announced.

The decision has been made despite a warning from the home secretary’s own migration experts that a failure to extend the scheme will lead to a sharp rise in fruit and vegetable prices and job losses in Tory heartland seats.

The immigration minister, Mark Harper, told MPs on Thursday that the seasonal agricultural workers scheme, under which 21,250 Romanians and Bulgarians have come to Britain every year for a maximum of six months, will close in December. The scheme has provided a third of Britain’s seasonal agricultural workforce.

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