The UK Home Office plans to limit the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS), a crucial source of labour for the fruit sector, to workers only from Romania and Bulgaria, the British leading agriculture newspaper Farmers Guardian reported.

The move is said to be a hit back at claims that the country is risking a farm labour crisis by restricting a migrant workers scheme from 2008.

Earlier this month, Food and Farming Minister Lord Rooker said the policy was "good on paper but not in reality".

"I don't want to get to the point where we can't pick our own food because we didn't plan properly," he had said.

However, the Home Office Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said this week they were not stopping any migrant workers from Europe coming to work in the UK but only those from outside the EU.

"We are phasing out low-skilled migration from outside Europe because we think businesses should hire those close to home first. Some people have told us our immigration reforms are too draconian, but I think they're right for Britain," he said.

A spokesman for the department added that they believed the restricted scheme would still be able to meet the needs of the farming industry.

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