Government not ready for trouble

GAPS in the supermarket aisles, goods not being delivered, shortages of staff in care homes, eight-page customs documents – welcome to Brexit Britain.

Just as the economy starts to tick over again after the gruelling Covid-19 lockdown, the structural weaknesses left behind by Brexit are beginning to stare out at us from the empty shop shelves.

A perfect combination of leaving the European Union and locking down has left the UK facing a labour supply shortage and difficulties in sourcing materials and goods.

The problems have been typified by a lack of HGV drivers to deliver produce that has not been harvested because so few workers are available. This is not just a consequence of the pandemic.

The UK Government was told long before Brexit of the problems that were being stored up but did nothing.

Again, like the pandemic, like the evacuation of Afghanistan, this Tory Government only wakes up to a problem when it becomes a crisis.

With Covid quarantine measures and Brexit residence problems to overcome, European workers are not keen to return to a country which they feel has turned its back on them.

The focus on training and upgrading skills has been minimal and the attention to overcoming the customs and supply chain blockages negligible.

Labour’s Ed Miliband is right to point out that these problems will not somehow magically solve themselves.

Wages will inevitably rise to some extent to meet the demand for workers but there are more than 1.5million vacancies across the UK, with several of the hotspots in Scotland.

Meeting wages will be the rising cost of food and goods as supplies become stretched and demand for the festive market increases.

A perfect storm is being met by an incompetent government.