'Northerners may replace Romanians' – a northerner writes

Let Northerners pick fruit (Photo: Kippa Matthews)

Apparently, northern people are upset about a suggestion from a Conservative councillor that they may start taking jobs now done by people from eastern Europe. David Shakespeare, leader of Buckinghamshire County Council and the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Conservative group, is quoted as saying people from poorer parts of the country could work collecting fruit if there are no jobs available.

“The north may replace the Romanians in the cherry orchards,” he said. “That may be a good thing.” (See here for the original story.)

We’re told that northern folk are unhappy about this.

For instance, Tom Blenkinsop, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, said: “To see northerners in this second class, undermining and disrespectful way is typical for a very southern orientated political party like the Conservatives.”

Can I declare an interest? I’m northern. Very northern. In fact, I’m about as northern as you can get without being Scottish. I grew up in Northumberland, not many miles from the Border, in the Cheviot hills. Am I offended by Mr Shakespeare’s comments? Not in the slightest. What could possibly be wrong with suggesting that people should take work, and move to take work if needs be?

I moved from a place I love, to Edinburgh and then to London, to take the jobs I wanted and the associated level of pay. Did I suffer for that, feel abused because of that? Take a guess. I suspect Romanians and other eastern Europeans working in Britain have similar feelings.

The only way you can take offence at Mr Shakespeare’s remark is if you consider it somehow ignominious or dishonourable to do what I and the Romanians have done: move to where the jobs are. The logical conclusion from the attacks on Mr Shakespeare is that the critics think northern people should be somehow immune from the reality of a modern flexible labour market, a reality the rest of the world embraces. And that is something I find offensive.