Owen Paterson, a former Tory Cabinet minister allegedly suggested that pensioners should pick fruit in order to reduce the number of East European immigrants that come to the UK to do the job. He was also accused of suggesting they be paid less than the minimum wage because they’d be too slow - an accusation he denies.
The claims were made in the memoirs of former Liberal Democrat minister David Laws.
Extracts published in the Mail on Sunday claim even the "more right wing" senior Tories around the Cabinet table were shocked.
The Government did close a scheme which gave Romanian and Bulgarian migrants temporary six-month permits three years’ ago, despite farmers complaining they find it difficult to get British workers to take seasonal work.
Mr Laws wrote: "Someone suggested that while abolishing the scheme might reduce immigration, it could also be very unpopular with farmers, who would no longer find it easy to employ cheap labour for back-breaking outdoor work. 'Oh, but I've thought of that', said Paterson. 'I think I have the answer. We'll try to get more British pensioners picking some of the fruit and vegetables in the fields instead.'
"One of the officials taking notes looked up in surprise, clearly thinking she had heard incorrectly. She hadn't. And Paterson hadn't finished. 'Of course, getting British pensioners to do this work could lead to an increase in farmers' costs,' he said. 'After all, they may be a bit slower doing the work. I've thought of that too. I think we might arrange to exempt British pensioners from the minimum-wage laws, to allow them to do this work.'
Paterson denied the claims, telling Sky News the story was "completely wrong", claiming the scheme worked "very well".
He said: “There is a very good scheme called the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme which is wrongly described for a start in the Laws piece, which brought in a very targeted number, 20,250, Romanians and Bulgarians, before they were opened up to unlimited access and it worked really well."
