The UK's former anti-slavery commissioner has warned that admitting more foreign fruit-pickers could lead to abuses like "debt bondage".
Sara Thornton, who has yet to be replaced since stepping down in April, raised concerns after reports that the Conservative government of Prime Minister Liz Truss plans to lift the cap on migrant farm laborers.
Truss, who backed remaining in the European Union (EU) in the 2016 Brexit referendum, has hinted that the cap on seasonal agricultural workers could be lifted as part of an upcoming review of work visas.
Thornton, now a lecturer on modern slavery at the UK’s University of Nottingham, warned that the government first "needs to deal with the potential for worker abuse and the danger of debt bondage."
"We need to be really careful. I understand why they want to do this but these workers will be vulnerable," Thornton fretted. "We need to ensure that they’re not subjected to recruitment fees, we need to ensure that they don’t come here in debt bondage and that they’re able to have a contract in their own language and to [report concerns]."
The government is still working on introducing its 2019 election manifesto pledge of an Australian-style points-based immigration system for applicants from all countries, which would favor those with the most-needed skills and professions and with a high level of spoken English.
It has also struggled to stop rampant people trafficking from the European continent to feed the black market in undocumented labor.
From 1993, when the UK joined the EU, until 2020, when it formally left, citizens of the bloc's other member states were free to live and work in the UK without a visa, work permit or immigrant status.
Opponents of Brexit in business warned that leaving the EU would force them to pay higher wages for a smaller pool of labor. However, several million EU citizens living in the UK were granted five-year leave-to-remain periods after the country left the bloc.
The UK Parliament outlawed the slave trade in 1807, then voted to free the remaining slaves in its colonies in 1833.