Cabot Institute for the Environment blog

Radio 4 interview with Dr Lydia Medland Following the Home Office revocation of the license of one of the seasonal agricultural worker recruitment operators, Dr Lydia Medland spoke to BBC farming today on 20th February 2023 about the scheme ( listen here ). The UK Seasonal Worker visa route allows workers to come from around the world to work for up to six months. There are (or were) seven ‘operators’ of the scheme. These are licenced by the government as the recruiters and sponsors of the workers and are responsible for both enforcement of the scheme requirements, particularly ensuring that workers go home at the end of their stay, and for worker protection. The UK has had some form of seasonal worker migration scheme since the end of World War II, but the current scheme dates from 2019, when following Brexit, EU workers no longer had access to the UK labour market, and UK fruit and vegetable growers and food producers had to look elsewhere to fill seasonal labour vacancies. At the e...

One of the privileges of being a student at the University of Bristol (UoB) is belonging to a diverse academic community comprised of students from many cultural, social and religious backgrounds. With the hosting of COP27 in Egypt this year, the Sustainability Network sought the opportunity to gain insight and perspectives first-hand from Egyptian UoB students around the significance and implications of the climate change focused conference being hosted in their country. Below is a recount of the respondents’ views and opinions.  Disclaimer: Views do not represent the University of Bristol nor the Sustainability Network. Names have been removed to protect the anonymity and privacy of the students who chose to speak.   The significance of climate change  Climate change is one of the most important issues the world is currently facing and will have wide ranging impacts that will influence our daily lives. Climate change, however, is often viewed as a future concern to be ...