Boris Johnson has admitted that he was told months ago that the UK’s supply chain could be in major trouble.
The Prime Minister also conceded that shortages in the UK could continue until Christmas.
But Mr Johnson insisted that the fuel crisis is ‘abating’ – despite long queues for petrol continuing in parts of the country.
Asked on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show about a warning by Chancellor Rishi Sunak that supply chain problems may impact the festive period, Mr Johnson said: ‘Rishi is invariably right in everything he says.’
But he then quickly added: ‘It depends how you interpret what he is saying.’
Mr Johnson was also asked about a warning from the Road Haulage Association, which wrote to him in June to flag that a major crisis was building in the industry due to the shortage of HGV drivers.
The Prime Minister said: ‘We have known about shortages in road haulage long before then. They have been a chronic feature of the way the road haulage industry has worked.’
On the opening day of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, the PM acknowledged that the UK economy is facing ‘stresses and strains’ as it moves away from what he branded the ‘broken model’ that he claimed voters had rejected in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
And Mr Johnson insisted he will not solve the issues in the labour market – which have led to warnings of shortages on the shelves in the run-up to the festive season – by pulling ‘the big lever marked uncontrolled immigration’ to allow in large numbers of foreign workers.
Mr Johnson said the problem at the forecourts is ‘fundamentally one of supply’.
But, confusingly, he told the same programme: ‘When you look at the particular issue on petrol forecourts, there you’ve got a problem that actually now is very largely driven by demand.’
Experts have said the issue of shortages was sparked by panic buying, while a shortage of HGV drivers – largely driven by the Covid crisis and Brexit – has worsened the situation.
London Marathon returns as 40,000 runners hit streets after two-year delay
The Government has asked the Army to step in and deliver fuel – which they will begin to do on Monday.
Around 100 trained drivers with an additional 100 support troops are due to be deployed over the coming week, despite repeated assurances by ministers the situation is ‘stabilising’.
The Petrol Retailers Association welcomed the move but warned it will have a limited impact given the relatively small numbers involved.
Looking forward, the Prime Minister said the economy faces a ‘period of adjustment’ and the way to get more HGV drivers is for the industry to ensure they are ‘decently paid’.
But industry experts have warned that getting more drivers on the road will take time.
Shortages remain most acute in London and the South East, while the situation in Scotland, the North of England and the Midlands is reported to be easing.
In further comments on supply chain disruption, Mr Johnson predicted December 25 would be ‘considerably better’ than last year.
However, at a youth club in east Manchester, it was put to him that the festive season in 2020 was a low bar given Christmas was cancelled for most families.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson failed to rule out further tax hikes, in comments that are likely to worry some of his Conservative colleagues.
He told the Andrew Marr show: ‘You have no fiercer and more zealous opponent of unnecessary tax rises than me, but we have had to deal with a pandemic on a scale which this country has not seen before in our lifetimes and long before.’
But, Mr Johnson added: ‘If I can possibly avoid it, I do not want to raise taxes again, of course not, nor does Rishi Sunak.
‘Margaret Thatcher would not have borrowed more money now, I’ll tell you that much for free.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE : Boris Johnson declines to promise public inquiry into Sarah Everard case
from News – Metro https://ift.tt/2WBLgyF
0 Comments