Britain will not indiscriminately open its borders to immigrants in order to meet labour shortfall, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.

“The way forward for our country is not to just pull the big lever marked “uncontrolled immigration”, and allow in huge numbers of people to do work… So what I won’t do is go back to the old failed model of low wages, low skills supported by uncontrolled immigration,” Mr Johnson told the BBC, “there will be a period of adjustment, but that is I think what we need to see.”

Mr Johnson, who made his comments on Sunday at the Conservative Party’s conference, added that the difficulties currently being experienced are part of the adjustment period for the country post-Brexit.

His comments come while the British government plans to issue thousands of temporary visas for foreign truck drivers and poultry workers.

Last month, United Kingdom announced a special visa scheme for immigrant lorry drivers, farmers and poultry workers. UK Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, said the scheme would ease the effect of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s haulage and food industry.