UK employers and farmers were preparing to appeal the government’s decision to fill in seasonal workers quota with Bulgarians and Romanians, The Observer said.

Farmers were forced to give priority to workers from the two new EU member states after the government decided to impose restrictions on the access of Bulgarians and Romanians to other economic sectors.

A representative of Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme operators said that the operators had already sent official letter to the Home Office. “If the response is unsatisfactory, we will look at proceeding with a judicial review,” the representative said.

According to Home Office spokesperson it would have been useless to introduce restrictions on workers who have the right to free movement in the country and in the same time to let working ‘people subject to immigration.’

UK National Farmers’ Union policy director Martin Haworth said that the government’s decision on the quotas was ‘political.’

The government had to make this gesture after imposing restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian workers, he said.