Unions concerned over foreign HGV drivers

TRADE unions have criticised Boris Johnson for leaning on foreign labour to plug holes in the HGV drivers shortage.

The Prime Minister backtracked on an initial reluctance to issue new visas to HGV drivers based overseas, announcing 5,000 would be approved.

Critics said it went back on the Johnson Government’s drive after the UK left the European Union to focus on filling job shortages with British workers.

However, Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, criticised the Government for not going far enough, indicating he would back the approval of 100,000 visas for overseas HGV drivers.

Eurosceptics have long argued that Brexit would lead to more job opportunities for Britons.

Senior figures in two leading unions, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and Unite, voiced criticism at the Prime Minister’s visa announcement.

Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT union, said the Government was “going backwards” by “importing” labour from Europe. He told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Brighton that people living in inner city communities across the UK which had been “left behind” should be recruited instead, but on decent pay and conditions. “Instead, they want to bring people here from all over Europe, on poverty wages and poor terms and conditions,” he said.

Adrian Jones, Unite’s national officer for road transport, said “paying and treating overseas drivers differently from UK drivers is immoral and unjust”.

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, yesterday admitted he had not wanted to open the door to foreign workers to tackle vacancies in the HGV sector. Speaking on the BBC’S The Andrew Marr Show, he also criticised “some fairly irresponsible briefing from one of the road haulage associations”.