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Environment Secretary Michael Gove is pushing for thousands of foreign workers to continue to be allowed to come to Britain after Brexit to do farming jobs.

The Leave Cabinet minister also told farmers at their annual conference in Birmingham that workers would have to be sought from outside the EU.

Addressing the National Farmers’ Union meeting, he said: “Farming currently depends on access to labour from abroad - both seasonal and more permanent.

“Whether it’s stockmen and dairy workers or the official vets in our abattoirs, 90 per cent of whom are from EU27 nations, agriculture needs access to foreign workers.

“It’s already the case that the supply of labour from EU27 countries is diminishing as their economies recover and grow. So, in the future, we will need to look further afield.”

However, he also stressed that he understood that farmers wanted to see “action quickly” amid warnings that millions of tons of fruit and vegtables will not be picked this year due to a lack of workers.

“The NFU has put forward strong and compelling arguments for a Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme and I fully acknowledge your concerns,” he added.

“In addition, the Government’s Migration Advisory Committee are reviewing the shape of immigration policy after we’re free of EU constraints.

“I’ve explained to them that we will need continued access to skilled labour if we’re to keep our farming sector productive and profitable.”

However, he argued that in the medium to long term, Britain’s farmers had to move away from a “relatively labour intensive model” to a “more capital intensive” approach.

However, shadow farming minister David Drew blamed the shortage of EU workers on Government immigration rules and Brexit uncertainties.

He added: “The Leave campaign pretended there was an alternative to this workforce, there is no alternative at the moment.

“Workers are not coming. We will have to plough fruit and vegetables back into the ground unless we get more workers.”

In a speech in Vienna, Cabinet minister David Davis signalled Britain will not unfairly pump State cash into businesses to give them a competitive advantage over EU rivals after it quits the bloc.

The Brexit Secretary also made clear that the Government wants to carry on co-operating on anti-trust measures to ensure consumers are not hit by corporate mergers and acquisitions.

In a speech to business leaders, he stressed: “The UK has long been a vocal proponent of restricting unfair subsidies to ensure competitive markets.”

He also warned: “Fair competition means that it cannot be right that a company situated in the EU would be able to be heavily subsidised by the state but still have unfettered access to the UK market.”

He also denied that ministers are preparing a programme of sweeping deregulation in a “Mad Max-style” free-for-all.

The UK wanted to maintain “close, even-handed co-operation” with EU regulatory authorities, with a common commitment to high regulatory standards which aims to ensure trade with the EU remains as “frictionless as possible”.

EU diplomats gave a cautious welcome to his offer of “mutual recognition” of each other’s rules, but it has not eased their fears over a post-Brexit regulatory bonfire.

“That’s what we don’t trust - what they will do after 2019,” said one EU diplomat involved in the talks, expressing concern about future “divergence”.

In another speech, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told a manufacturing conference in London: “This government opposes erecting barriers to trade where none yet exist, or disrupting the commercial relationships that exist between this country and our Continental partners.”

Cabinet ministers are due to meet at Chequers on Thursday to seek to bridge deep divides over what type of Brexit trade deal the Government should seek.

Mrs May is reported to be planning to keep the Brexit sub-committee at the Buckinghamshire residence until they have reached an agreement.