What the commentators said
A new “winter of discontent” beckons. And it’s all because of Brexit. So goes the lament from some quarters, said Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail. But it’s nonsense. Britain is facing two big problems in the short term, neither of which is primarily due to Brexit. One is the soaring price of gas, which has exposed long-standing deficiencies in our energy strategy ( see page 24). The other is our shortage of lorry drivers. Brexit is a factor in this, but only one of many. Before the pandemic there were 37,000 EU drivers in the UK; now, there are some 24,500. We’re not the only nation in need of drivers. Poland has an even bigger shortfall. Brexit is more than a factor, said Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian. Why can’t the poultry industry find workers? “Because of Brexit and nothing else,” says one big supplier. Why is there a shortage of blood sample collection tubes? “UK border challenges”, says the main NHS supplier.
Even so, the whole world is facing supply-chain problems in the wake of Covid, said Hamish McRae in The Independent. A round-up by Bloomberg found that the price of crabmeat in Maryland has tripled; that there’s a six-month wait for new cars in Bucharest; that there are not enough babies’ cots in Houston; and that grocery deliveries are being delayed in Sydney. The world has discovered that while just-in-time supply chains may deliver great efficiency, they’re also a hostage to fortune. “Our curse,” said Philip Johnston in The Daily Telegraph, is that here in the UK “we also have just-in-time politicians” who are hopeless at long-term planning.
We’re in for an “austere winter” whatever happens, said Anoosh Chakelian and Philippa Nuttall in the New Statesman. Higher gas, petrol and food bills are pushing up the cost of living. Farmers have struggled to find European workers to help with their harvest. The hospitality industry is also suffering from a chronic shortage of staff. The £20 uplift in universal credit is due to end next week, and taxpayers are set to be hit by the rise in national insurance contributions. Put it all together and it’s “starting to look like a perfect storm” – one that could mark the beginning of the end of Johnson’s premiership.