UK farmers call for EU workers to bypass Covid quarantine

Poultry farmers are urging the government to lift travel restrictions to allow hundreds of specialist EU turkey pluckers to fill jobs in the UK, with a warning that there could be a shortage of birds or higher prices if the restrictions are not waived. An urgent exemption from Covid-related quarantine is needed to avoid shortages of highly skilled turkey pluckers and butchers that could trigger the collapse of this year’s supply, says the British Poultry Council (BPC). Around 9m British turkeys are reared for Christmas each year but the seasonal sector cannot survive without non-UK labour, it warns. The proposed exemption would cover at least 1,000 seasonal workers who normally travel from Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia at the end of October to help slaughter, pluck and prepare birds destined for UK Christmas dinner tables. It says workers with typical two-month contracts will not come if they have to quarantine for two weeks upon ...