Britain faces pigs in blankets and ham shortage at Christmas ‘due to lack of butchers’

BRITAIN faces a pigs in blankets and ham shortage at Christmas due to a reported lack of butchers.

The UK's meat industry is short of about 15,000 workers, according to the British Meat Processors Association.

Plans are being discussed by ministers to ease visa restrictions for 1,000 foreign butchers, reported.

Home Secretary Priti Patel is said to be resisting the idea amid concerns about free movement from Europe coming back after Brexit.

The British Meat Processors Association said: "We really should have been producing Christmas food from about June or July onwards this year and so far we haven’t, so there’ll be shortages of party foods and things like pigs in blankets. Anything that is labour-intensive work could see shortages.”

The association said it was trying to recruit British meat workers but was struggling to do so.

Fully-trained butchers in the UK earn up to £37,000.

Butchers are considered skilled workers and are allowed entry into the UK under the points-based migration system.

A government source told The Times: "We’re not going to return to freedom of movement by incrementally adding every sector to points-based immigration.”

It comes as Brits have been warned to brace for a "nightmare" Christmas with nut roasts replacing turkey, beer shortages, and presents not arriving.

Experts have warned there will be a "distinct lack of choice" on supermarket shelves with some festive favourites likely to be in short supply.

Mums and dads may also struggle to get their hands on sought after presents like toys, bikes, and electronics due to the global shipping crisis.

Ministers have insisted the panic buying run on petrol stations is finally starting to ease and could be over "very quickly".

The number of empty forecourts has tumbled from 60 per cent at the weekend to 27 per cent with deliveries now outstripping demand from motorists.

But industry insiders have warned the fallout from a week of major disruption could take a month or more to fully repair.

And now some of Britain's biggest retailers are sounding the alarm about supplies of goods coming into the country for Christmas.

Clive Black, a retail analyst at Shore Capital, told The Times he expects the festive season to be "a nightmare for consumers".