London: According to Home Secretary Suella Braverman, there is "no good reason" why the UK can't train enough of its own citizens to work as fruit pickers and lorry drivers in order to lower immigration.

Since Britain left the EU, the horticulture sector has lamented a labour shortage that was made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the BBC. In response, the government increased this year's allocation of temporary visas for seasonal agricultural workers by 15,000 units.

Nevertheless, Braverman informed attendees on the first day of the three-day conference in London that Brexit will enable the growth of a high-skilled, high-wage economy "that is less dependent on low-skilled foreign labour."

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She argued that a country's desire to manage its borders is "not racist" and that the UK must not "forget how to do things for ourselves."

"There is no good reason why we can't train up enough HGV (heavy goods vehicle) drivers, butchers, or fruit pickers," she said.

Keir Starmer, the leader of Labour, criticised the home secretary for her remarks.

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It's nothing new, he said, when Suella Braverman claims that British workers have lost the ability to take care of themselves. He was speaking at a gathering of Labour MPs and peers. The Conservatives always avoid taking responsibility and place the blame elsewhere.

She explained to us their plan for the future of employment in this nation: Let them pick fruit. Our party, however, will never have such meagre goals for the working class.

Politicians who have a "national dislike of this country and its people, from north to south" attended the National Conservatism Conference, which was put on by a right-wing organisation with US roots.

The UK's net migration figure for 2022, which will be made public next week, is anticipated to be at least 700,000, according to the Centre for Policy Studies. The goal of Braverman's "ultimate aspiration" is to lower the population to under 100,000, she has previously stated.

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Some prominent Conservatives think that in order to boost economic growth in the short term, more immigration is necessary. The "key thing," according to Nigel Huddleston, UK's minister of state for foreign trade, is to maintain control even though "every now and then we also need more people to come into the country."

Long-term, he said, "we need immigration to decline because that's what has been creating some problems in local areas for a long time."