Ministers will open the floodgates to foreign fruit pickers to stop crops rotting in fields and on trees

A FARM workers immigration scheme axed by Theresa May five years ago is being re-launched to meet post-Brexit demands for fruit pickers.

Whitehall insiders revealed plans for a two-year trial which will allow 2,500 non-EU workers to register for seasonal work.

Insiders said the trial was expected to pave the way for a much larger agricultural workers scheme covering both EU and non-EU migrants from 2021.

It follows an outcry from rural MPs and the National Farmers Union this summer as a staffing shortage meant fruit was left to rot.

And it marks the first glimpse of the UK’s post-Brexit immigration plans.

The British Growers Association claims as many as 75,000 foreign seasonal agricultural workers were in the UK two years ago.

As Home Secretary, Theresa May axed the 60-year-old seasonal migrant scheme amid fears it could trigger a surge in migrants from Romania and Bulgaria once caps on numbers from the country were lifted.

Sources last night told the Financial Times that Downing Street had been “blocking the trial for some time” but Home Secretary Sajid Javid had joined forces with Environment Secretary Michael Gove to push it through.

Earlier this year, Mr Gove said the National Farmers Union had put forward “compelling arguments” for a new seasonal workers scheme.

Speaking in February he said: “We can only ensure farming stays profitable with access to the right labour.”

Official figures last month showed EU migration had fallen to the lowest levels for six years.

Some 226,000 EU citizens came to the UK in 2017-2018, but 138,000 EU citizens left.

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