The environment secretary and home secretary looked to have clashed heads today following two contradictory announcements.
Twenty-four hours after the government reintroduced legislation to end low-skilled migration, George Eustice said the UK is suffering from a lack low-skilled migrants to pick fruit.
Speaking at the daily briefing he echoed concerns from farmers that produce could be left to rot in the fields this summer if sufficient labour cannot be found.
It comes as Priti Patel tweeted: “We’re ending free movement to open Britain up to the world”, an announcement that has been ridiculed elsewhere.
We’re ending free movement to open Britain up to the world.
— Priti Patel (@pritipatel) May 18, 2020
It will ensure people can come to our country based on what they have to offer, not where they come from. pic.twitter.com/cQbXvdIsYU
Guy Verhofstadt said Britain has became “the first country in world history to open up by pulling up the drawbridge!”
Sue Perkins said Patel showed her talents in clapping for carers with one hand and “flicking them the V’s with the other”.
Related: Government uses end of free movement as ‘answer to everything’