The MP for Honiton and Tiverton has said he hopes there will be more ‘flexibility’ with immigration after Brexit so that agriculture and food processing can keep functioning.

Speaking to the Herald, Neil Parish said: “When you have workers for both agriculture and food processing, there is a need for those workers to come in so while they are not on a priority list, they should be on a list of workers that are necessary to come in the country.

“If we are going to produce more healthy food then we do need the workers to process and pick that food.”

Mr Parish also discussed the impact Covid-19 could have on jobs. He said: “Unfortunately in the retail sector and many others, there will be significant job losses.

“In some respects, I’m worried that we have got to have enough labour to get our food out there but likewise I think there probably is a pool of home-grown labour there that we haven’t had before.”