The environment secretary, Steve Reed, is to announce a five-year extension of the seasonal farm worker scheme in an attempt to reset relations with farmers after fury over inheritance tax.
Making his pitch to farmers at the National Farmers’ Union conference in central London on Tuesday, Reed will also announce the opening of a new national biosecurity centre to tackle diseases including foot-and-mouth and bluetongue.
After Brexit this was impossible, as there was no proposed route for so-called low-skilled workers, until, pushed into action, the government set up a temporary seasonal worker scheme to import workers for six months at a time.
The NFU president, Tom Bradshaw, will also give a highly critical speech, accusing the government of breaking promises with its “morally wrong” inheritance tax policy, urging ministers to “do the right thing” and reverse it.
She will say: “You’ve been battling so many challenges … most recently, changes to inheritance tax and business property relief at the budget, which the NFU has said could affect 75% of farms.
