Britain will offer six-month emergency visas to 800 butchers to avoid a mass pig cull caused by a shortage of labour and supply chain issues.

       Environment Secretary George Eustice said the requirement for butchers to be fluent in English will not be dropped.

       The army of workers is expected to begin arriving from next month.

       Mr Eustice added: "There have been lots of market disruptions, problems with access to the Chinese market, maybe some overproduction - here production is up by about seven per cent.

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       "Labour has been an aggravating factor but it's not been the only factor.

       "The pig industry, in common with many parts of the food industry, has seen a loss of staff as many of the EU citizens that they relied on left during the pandemic - nothing to do with Brexit."