A Conservative MP has said young Brits should "get on their bikes" and take farming jobs to alleviate the shortage of migrant labour post-Brexit.
South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay, who backed the Leave campaign in the referendum of last year, told a fringe event at the Conservative party conference that British people need to fill roles vacated by EU workers after Brexit.
"I was struggling to think why wouldn't a youngster from Glasgow without a job come down to the south to work for a farm for the summer with loads of gorgeous EU women working there?" Mr Mackinlay said on Monday (2 October).
"What's not to like? Get on your bike and find a job."
He added: "We need to mobilise our core of unemployed to say there is a job there for me, let's go and get it just as the very well-motivated Bucharest youngster gets a coach across Europe to find a job."
He said British people should have the same attitude to finding work across the UK as low-skilled workers do from elsewhere in Europe.
"We need to mobilise our core of unemployed to say there is a job there for me, let's go and get it just as the very well motivated Bucharest youngster gets a coach across Europe to find a job," he said.
'Existing human capital'
This is not the first time a major party has called for British people to fill farm jobs.
Ukip has said British students could provide labour for fresh produce industry to help cut migration.
The party's immigration minister John Bickley said the UK must "use up the human capital that exists in this country" before opening its borders.
He stated that reforms to the welfare and education system are needed to increase the number of home-grown workers available to the agriculture sector.
Mr Bickley said fruit picking was previously a “rite of passage” to earn extra cash for people about to go to university or at university.
