Brexit: UK meat being sent to EU for butchering due to staff shortages

‘It’s all a bit desperate,’ says industry chief as British producers send to Ireland and re-import for sale

British beef exported to EU before it is butchered and re-imported for sale in UK supermarkets (PA)

Leading UK meat producers are having to send carcasses to the EU to be butchered before re-importing them again because of the ongoing post-Brexit staffing crisis.

The British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) said several “major” firms were now sending beef to the Republic of Ireland due to the shortage of local skilled butchers.

“It’s all a bit desperate,” the BMPA’s chief executive Nick Allen told The Independent. “The labour is over there [in Ireland] so it makes sense to have prime cuts shipped over then so it can butchered and brought back here.”

Leading British meat producers have sister companies in the Republic of Ireland where they can access skilled butchers, the industry chief said.

But the transport and administration costs involved in moving meat carcasses between the UK and the EU country means spending £1,500 for each lorry load of carcasses.

As well the export of meat carcasses, some British pork producers are considering whether they may have to send pigs to the Netherlands for butchering before re-importing back to the UK, Mr Allen said.

The industry chief said the UK’s meat production workforce is down by around 15 per cent of normal levels – at least 10,000 skilled workers short of what the industry needs.

The BMPA called for the government to relax the immigration rules so the industry can get experienced people without having to train them to help solve the immediate labour crisis.

Last month, ministers agreed to issue 800 temporary visas for skilled overseas butchers to work in the UK for six months to help ease the problem, but the industry body says it is not enough.

“We have been saying we are between 10,000 and 12,000 short of these skilled or semi-skilled butchery workers – 800 doesn’t go very far,” said Mr Allen.

“The government is resolute that we need to pay people more and we need to recruit from the home market,” he added. “But it’s just very difficult to get people at the moment, and the training of new people will take some time.”

The BMPA chief has said Britain’s supply crisis are coming from the underlying labour problems happening since Brexit. “It’s certainly Brexit-related, but it’s also the immigration decisions our politicians are making since Brexit,” he said.

Earlier in the autumn the National Pig Association (NPA) estimated that tens of thousands of pigs that should have already gone to slaughter were clogging up British farms – warning of a mass pig cull ahead.

Zoe Davies, chief executive of the NPA, told The Independent she was “hopeful” the 800 temporary visas would help get the immediate backlog of pigs and “help stop people having to kill animals on farms”.

Meanwhile, tensions between Britain and France over post-Brexit fishing licences appeared to be easing ahead of meeting between Brexit minister Lord Frost and French Europe minister Clement Beaune on Thursday.

French transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said the UK was showing a “constructive” spirit in talks, while a spokesman for the EU Commission said talks in recent days have led to a “better understanding of the outstanding issues”.

But Boris Johnson’s spokesman said on Wednesday that Britain would not weaken the evidence requirements for granting licences to French fishing boats as part of attempts to resolve the row.

Asked if the solution could involve lowering the evidence threshold, the No 10 spokesman said: “No, we remain confident that we are enforcing the rules as set out.”

It comes as a French court ruled on Wednesday that a British scallop trawler impounded by the French authorities over fishing rules can leave immediately, and its captain will not have to pay a deposit for the release of the ship.