IN May 2017 I made my first visit as so called “Brexit Minister” to a fruit farm on the East Coast . The owners showed me round and introduced me to a number of people working there, most of whom were Romanian or Bulgarian.

The message from everyone, employer and employee, was clear – this was a highly successful business which made a big contribution to the local and national economy.

The most direct threat to it was the removal of freedom of movement which had worked far better than any earlier scheme allowing approved workers temporary entrance.

These had been slow, bureaucratic and off-putting to would-be migrants who could easily choose to go elsewhere given the shortage of agricultural labour across Europe.

Moreover, there was no alternative workforce available for not just this enterprise but all similar enterprises across the UK, whether they be picking strawberries, cabbages, asparagus or salad leaves. Local workers simply didn’t want those jobs in places where there was sufficient employment in any case.

Some months later I visited a couple of meat processing plants employing largely EU nationals whose task was equally vital. The message there was the same – the ending of freedom of movement would be disastrous yet the UK Government was refusing to listen.

You might have thought that the rapid onset of coronavirus with a significant rise in unemployment and a large number of people stuck at home would have created an unexpected solution to this problem just when the new immigration restrictions were starting to be introduced.

Indeed recruitment of UK residents to undertake agricultural tasks usually done by incoming EU labour quickly got under way.

But it has not turned out as those still backing the Brexit mantra of “control of our borders” had hoped. Certainly there has been a big response to the campaign, but it lacks two things – enough volunteers and enough experience.

The scale of the economy’s reliance on incoming labour has been deliberately understated during the Brexit process. In addition, Brexiteers have not only wrongly implied that there is something harmful in mobility of labour (whilst of course still supporting mobility of capital) but also that it would be easy to procure an adequate and sustainable domestic supply.

That was never going to be true. One fruit farm in Angus can have as many as a thousand workers on it at peak time. Many of those will also work before and after the agricultural season in fish processing. Take in the needs of vegetable farms, aquaculture and meat plants (amongst other sectors) and you have an idea of the scale of the problem.

To add to the employers’ headache, even those who have volunteered and may in time be able to make a good living out of a very different type of job, lack experience of what is often hard, but skilled, physical work.

That is, in part anyway, why more than 10,000 EU nationals and some others from outside the EU are now being recruited and flown in to the UK, even during the lockdown, to try and provide a basic supply of capable workers for the start of the growing season.

But this is only the start. Jack Ward, the CEO of the British Growers Association, is frank about the problem when he says that whilst the 5000 people needed now for the asparagus season will probably be available, the “crunch” will come from May onwards when 35,000 to 40,000 workers are required to pick crops such as lettuce and berries.

“This is a long game,” he added. “The season will run well into October and growers have got to be very confident that they have got enough labour. We could be in a very different situation by July 1.”

It is in fact far from certain that we can avoid such a different – and difficult – place. The immigration proposals now being implemented, unless they are halted, may well affect our food supply chain. But they may also impinge upon our basic safety.

The Prime Minister saw from his hospital bed how reliant the NHS also is on incoming workers. The roll call of those who are risking their lives – and sometimes laying them down – in order to save their fellow citizens on these islands makes no distinction between nationalities.

The need was obvious from the very start of the Brexit process.

How sad that it has required an unprecedented tragedy to make it so starkly visible not just in hospitals and care homes, but in our fields and farms as well.

Scotland is in lockdown. Shops are closing and newspaper sales are falling fast. It’s no exaggeration to say that the future of The National is at stake. Please consider supporting us through this with a digital subscription from just £2 for 2 months by following this link: http://www.thenational.scot/subscribe. Thanks – and stay safe.