British farmers are being forced to fly in fruit and vegetable pickers from Romania using specialist charter jets to keep up with demand during the coronavirus lockdown.

The first charter flight operating between Bucharest and London Stansted will land tomorrow, bringing about 180 farm workers to the UK from eastern Europe. The plane is the first of up to six to operate in the coming months to keep farms staffed with labourers.

It follows warnings from the Country Land & Business Association that travel restrictions imposed to prevent a spread of coronavirus were leaving agricultural companies short of staff. Many British workers who have been made unemployed during the lockdown have applied for farming jobs but it is not believed to be enough to