‘There will be enough turkeys for Christmas'

Overseas poultry workers take up visas

- Macer Hall and Paul Jeeves

TURKEY with all the trimmings will be on the table this year after the Government’s top food official dismissed concerns festive fare could be in short supply.

Families desperate for a boost after the pandemic obliterated last year’s celebrations had been warned a shortage of butchers might mean the traditional roast was off the menu.

But a swift take-up of emergency visas to recruit thousands of overseas workers to save Christmas has already resulted in a far more optimistic outlook than ministers feared.

And an expected easing of the HGV driver crisis has also boosted hopes as the UK enters its busiest time of the year for trade.

Yesterday Whitehall chiefs from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) declared they were “confident” the supply chain had stabilised as they were quizzed by MPs on the Public Accounts Committee.

David Kennedy, Defra’s director general for food, farming and biodiversity, declared uptake of the poultry worker visas had been “pretty good”.

His department was also “feeling very positive” that all the butchers’ visas would be used.