Ministers move to save Christmas with U-turn over foreign butchers to avoid mass pig cull
Foreign butchers to save Boris’s bacon: Ministers announce plan to allow 800 abattoir workers into the UK for six months to solve staffing shortage threatening Christmas dinners after farmers warned more than 100,000 animals face cull
Temporary visa for foreign butchers is a significant U-turn – coming less than a fortnight after Boris Johnson ruled out relaxing immigration rules A cull of around 4,500 pigs began yesterday, while ministers plan for 1,000 skilled workers to arrive before ChristmasShortage of butchers means that around 100,000 pigs face destruction in the coming days
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Ministers have unveiled plans to allow 800 foreign butchers into the UK to tackle the meat crisis threatening to ruin family Christmases.
They will be offered six-month emergency visas to avert a mass pig cull caused by a shortage of labour and market disruption, Environment Secretary George Eustice confirmed tonight.
In addition he also announced plans to help produces expand storage so more produce can be kept on ice.
Boris Johnson‘s government had attempted to play down the crisis, despite farmers warning more than 100,000 pigs face destruction in the coming days because of a shortage of butchers to process their meat.
But the gravity of the situation was underlined yesterday when a cull of about 4,500 pigs began.
But Mr Eustice tonight said: ‘What we’re going to do is allow butchers in abattoirs and meat processors dealing with pigs, to be able to come in on a temporary basis under the Seasonal Worker scheme for up to six months.
‘That will help us to deal with the backlog of pigs that we currently have on farms to give those meat processors the ability to slaughter more pigs.
‘Crucially as well we’re going to make available what’s called private storage aid to help those abattoirs to temporarily store that meat in order to help clear this backlog before they can release it to market,’ he said.
The gravity of the situation was underlined yesterday when a cull of about 4,500 pigs began (stock image)
Tory environment minister Lord Benyon told the House of Lords today that a decision was ‘imminent’ and the steps planned will reflect the action taken in the poultry sector to deal with labour gaps.
The Government announced last month that 5,500 temporary visas will be issued to poultry workers and 5,000 to HGV drivers in an attempt to prevent shortages in the run-up to Christmas.
Dr Zoe Davies, chief executive of the National Pig Association, said farmers are distraught.
‘As you can imagine this is hugely difficult for the farmers involved… Some are having to use knackermen as they just can’t bear having to do it or ask their staff to do it,’ she said.
The Prime Minister infuriated the farming industry earlier this month by brushing aside the crisis, saying the ‘great hecatomb (sacrifice) of pigs’ may not materialise.
Mr Johnson said the industry needed to improve pay and conditions to attract skilled staff already in Britain.
However, last night it appeared that visa rules will be relaxed as they already have been for poultry workers.
One option being considered is for less stringent English language rules, which industry leaders claim are making it impossible to recruit butchers from abroad.
The brutal cull of pigs involves using a so-called captive bolt gun, which fires a retractable bolt through the head of the animal.
It is highly unusual to kill animals in this way on farms, let alone hundreds at a time, and it has provoked fears for the mental health and wellbeing of the teams involved.
Duncan Berkshire, a vet who is involved in a steering group of experts working with pig farmers, said the grim process began yesterday on three farms, each holding about 1,500 adult pigs.
He said the farmers involved are reluctant to go public, given the circumstances of the cull and fears they may be targeted by activists.
He described the situation as the ‘absolutely last resort’, adding: ‘UK farmers are proud to produce food – they don’t want to produce food that is going to go into the bin.
Mr Berkshire said: ‘It is distressing for everyone involved. These are big pigs and they need to be restrained and you need people who are trained to do it properly.
‘Welfare is important and we don’t want any suffering up to that point of death.
‘My worry is the kind of mental impact this will have on both the producers and their vets.’
Farms have seen nothing like this since the foot and mouth crisis of 2001, when animals were killed to prevent the spread of the disease.
Mr Berkshire said: ‘This is being done purely because something has gone wrong with the food chain.’
It has been suggested that the adult pig farm cull could involve as many as 120,000 animals. The tipping point for a much larger cull will be at the end of this month.
Emma Slawinski, of the RSPCA, said: ‘I’ve heard people say, what does it matter where they are killed? They are going to die anyway.
‘But on-farm culls will be traumatic for many animals and people alike. Slaughterhouses are specifically designed to kill animals.’
She added: ‘None of this meat will enter the food chain, which is incredibly wasteful and disrespectful.’
There are reports that many thousands of chickens are also being slaughtered on farms because processing plants do not have the staff needed to handle them.
