Cherilyn Mackrory, Member of Parliament for Truro and Falmouth has welcomed today’s announcement from the Home Office that it will be allowing workers from overseas to do more work on our farms – including Cornwall’s daffodil farms – next year.
Cherilyn said:
“I have been campaigning for this scheme to be extended – especially to “ornamentals”, which weren’t covered in the initial pilot scheme. Last year, there weren’t enough workers for Cornwall’s daffodil crop, which is worth £100m a year.”
“I’ve met my daffodil farmers, ministers and even the Prime Minister to talk about this important issue. I asked a PMQ on the matter too. So this news today is very welcome news indeed.”
“Control over our borders doesn’t mean closing our borders – we still need agricultural workers from abroad, as we did in 1945 when the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme was first established.”
“As Sir Winston Churchill once said when the daffodil industry was on the brink of collapse during World War II: “These people must be enabled to grow their flowers – they cheer us up so much in these dark days.”
