Does the UK Need More Immigrants?

There is news that the UK’s food crops could be left to rot in the fields due to the shortage of temporary workers.
Farmers say they are having great difficulty in recruiting enough people to pick fruit at £5.52 an hour.
Poles and eastern europeans are preferring to remain in their own countries. This is caused by falling Pound against Euro and a boom in the eastern european economy.
UK immigration laws have been tightened making it difficult for students to get a temporary visa. This particularly applies to potential workers from the former Soviet Union who would be attracted by wages of £5.52.

It seems a real failure of the free market, if fruit is left to rot,for lack of workers. Especially when there are over 1 million people unemployed in the UK. Maybe there is a way to get the unemployed to take temporary jobs?

If food is left to rot, UK supermarkets will also have to import from oversees. Food miles is increasingly becoming a political issue as people say we should buy local foods. (The outspoken chef, Gordon Ramsey, recently said restaurants should be made to serve only ‘in season’ vegetables). But, if we can’t pick our own fruit, how can we eat only local produce?

Tightening of immigration laws causes food to rot at Independent