The Fife Council of Scotland supports farmers' calls to immediately quadruple the quota for migrant workers allowed by the UK government.

The Council argues that the agricultural industry of Fife and Scotland as a whole will be at risk if Westminster does not take urgent measures to attract thousands of workers from countries outside the European Union. Council member Tim Brett, a liberal democrat, said farmers in Fife and elsewhere are facing disaster.

The council also condemned the UK government’s “white paper” on immigration, arguing that it is based on “arbitrary and unmanageable” thresholds that could harm the local economy.

A Brexit mitigation scheme developed by the government attracts 2,500 workers from outside the EU to help fruit and vegetable farmers throughout the UK.

Scottish liberal Democrat leader Willy Renny called this seasonal farm worker scheme collapsed. He said that the allowed number of workers is very small, and said that the scheme actually collapsed due to a three-week delay in obtaining a visa for workers from Ukraine, and workers from Moldova refused to participate at all because of the huge bureaucratic complexity.

“The scheme was announced only at the end of last year and has already shown itself inadequate to cope with demand. Now we are faced with the fact that strawberries are blushing in the field, and there are still no signs when these workers will arrive, ”Willy Renny summed up.