'Jobs will go to robots whether we have immigration or not': Jacob Rees-Mogg rejects claims that British businesses will turn to Artificial Intelligence after Brexit when they can't recruit from EU

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Jacob Rees-Mogg has rejected claims that a potential lack of EU workers after Brexit will result in jobs being filled by artificial intelligence.

During an episode of Panorama set to air tonight the Conservative MP said that we shouldn't be 'frightened of mechanisation'.

He said: 'Those jobs will go to robots whether we have immigration or not. 

'That immigration is not the issue around technological development, technological development, artificial intelligence, mechanisation, is all happening and that will carry on.' 

Tonight's episode Immigration: Who should we let in? examines the public debate surrounding immigration in the wake of Brexit.

It explores how the system could look once free movement of EU citizens in and out of Britain has ended. 

Leading industry figures also revealed to BBC Panorama their concerns about post-Brexit plans on future migration from the EU.   

Speaking about the UK workers looking for jobs Rees-Mogg said:  'There are 8 million people in this country who are classified as economically inactive, 2 million of whom would like to be economically active, there is a pretty big pool of people who they could train, and of course business wants to carry on what it's being doing, because it's easy, but the responsibility of government is to look after the consumer and the citizen.

During an episode of Panorama set to air tonight the Conservative MP said that we shouldn't be 'frightened of mechanisation'

During the episode co-founder of fast-food chain Leon, John Vincent, said he thinks it would be bad for the industry if AI were needed to fill the gap left by a shortage of EU workers.

The chain employs roughly 50 per cent of its staff from the EU.  

He told BBC Panorama: 'There's a danger if we can't recruit people - and we've already seen it in America - that people will be replaced by robots and that's not something we want to see. It's not good for the culture, it's not good for the customer. That is the way the industry will go if we cannot employ people.' 

BBC Panorama also spoke to Patrick Hook, Managing director of PD Hook Hatcheries Ltd, which hatches nine million chicks a week and employs 1/3 of its workers from the EU.

During the episode co-founder of fast-food chain Leon, John Vincent, said he thinks it would be bad for the industry if AI were needed to fill the gap left by a shortage of EU workers

He explained to Panorama the implications that Brexit and EU migrations may have on his business: 'At the moment we have about five or six vacancies but as a business we have about 50-60 vacancies across the UK that we cannot fulfil.'

'We pay above the National Minimum and National Living Wage and we still can't get the workers. Even if we have to put pay up, which I think we'll have to, it's the reality, I still don't think that will attract domestic UK labour.'

'The labour crisis and not having those skilled permanent people available to us from the European Union is a bigger threat to us as a business and our industry and it's bigger than avian influenza, that is a fact.'

BBC Panorama asked Caroline Nokes, Immigration Minister at the Home Office, why there have been delays from the Home Office publishing their immigration policy. 

She said 'There isn't any dithering, what I'm committed to doing, is making evidence based policy. And so we will bring an immigration policy forward when we're ready.' 

How has migration affected the population in your area?

The growth or decline of the population in your local area can be affected by a variety of factors, including migration from within the UK, outside the UK or through births and deaths. 

Type in your local borough or district council area to see how the population changed in the space of a year from mid-2015 to mid-2016.

Source: Office for National Statistics

The cauliflower-picking robot funded by the EU that is set to replace migrant workers for short-staffed farmers in Cornwall 

By Joe Pinkstone for MailOnline 

The vegetables you eat with your Sunday roast may soon be picked by a robot.

Farmers in Cornwall are testing a machine invented using European funding that picks cauliflowers from the field without bruising them.

It works in a similar way to the human hand by squeezing each cauliflower before deciding whether it is ready to be harvested.

The GummiArm robot is believed to be a answer to any migrant staff shortages that may arise when the UK leaves the EU.   

A cauliflower picking robot has been developed which can tell when the vegetable is ready for harvest and pull it out of the ground without damaging it. Vegetable harvesting can be difficult and is often inefficient, time-consuming and expensive

The robotic cauliflower-picking arm is the work of Dr Martin Stoelen at the University of Plymouth.

'A lot of producers are very worried about where they will get their reasonably priced manual labour from – and rightly so,' says Dr Stoelen.

'Manual harvesting also represents a large portion of their total costs, often it can be up to 50 per cent, so looking at addressing that, especially against a backdrop of Brexit, is very important.'  

Harvesting cauliflower can be difficult because the vegetable can be bruised easily.

The robot first assesses each cauliflower to make sure its head is firm and white using cameras and sensors on its 'fingers'.

It then gently removes it from the stem with just a few leaves attached.

The robotic cauliflower-picking arm has been developed by the University of Plymouth. Currently, the robot is being tested on the fields of Cornwall

Currently, farmers harvest fields all at once, in a practice known as slaughter harvesting.

But this method leads to up to 60 per cent of the crop being wasted, because it is either wonky or inedible.

Many other robotic approaches in farming focus on machinery advances but the scientists from the University of Plymouth looked to replicate the human hand.   

The project has been named the ABC (Automated Brassica harvest in Cornwall).

David Simmons is Managing Director of Riviera Produce, which is a partner in the ABC project, and has been working in the industry for 30 years.

Harvesting cauliflower can be a difficult task. The head must be firm and white and then it must be gently removed from the stem with a few leaves attached. This process must be done gently as the vegetable can bruise easily

His family has farmed at Hayle in Cornwall since the 1870s.   

Harvest time on farms is often dominated by migrant workers, and the impeding Brexit has raised concerns about a shortage of workers to pick the crops.

Mr Simmons said: 'Harvesting costs can be up to 40 per cent of the costs of production of brassicas and skilled labour to do the harvesting is getting increasingly difficult to obtain, especially with Brexit fast approaching.

'In a very competitive market place where our customers demand cheap food, the cost of harvesting is continually rising.

'Robotic harvesting has the potential to increase productivity and control the costs.'