In the latest Brexit U-turn, the government has said it will provide butchers to enter the UK on temporary visas.
Environment secretary, George Eustice, said that 800 butchers would be granted 6-month visas to address staffing shortages in abattoirs and meat processing plants.
He said on Thursday evening: “That will help us to deal with the backlog of pigs that we currently have on farm, give those meat processors the ability to slaughter more pigs, and crucially as well we are going to make available what is called private storage aid to help those abattoirs to temporarily store that meat.”
The new temporary visas come in as the culling of thousands of healthy pigs was reported amid staffing shortages.
Around 1,000 new visas could be issued.
