British Army on Standby to Deliver Food as Brexit Crisis Deepens
The UK is very dependant on food from the EU - difficulties with transit are worsening
The British army is on standby to help deliver food to shops, some UK newspapers reported at the weekend. The Daily Telegraph picked up on a story that originally appeared as a scoop in the Sun on Sunday - both managed to avoid using the word ‘Brexit’.
Media outlets blamed the problems with deliveries on the “pingdemic’ forcing drivers to isolate. Some drivers may indeed be affected by this and there are underlying shortages - the job is poorly paid and logistics apps make it a miserable experience.
But the UK is suffering a collision of crises due to the Government’s decision to push through Brexit during Covid. Many drivers in the UK were from the EU and have left - but also a lot of food was brought over by European hauliers who no longer come here.
Some EU lorry drivers apparently demand guarantees they won’t be asked to travel to the UK, fearing that it is a hostile environment. They may have read about Polish lorry driver Jakub - he applied for settled status having lived in the UK for five years - but had a nasty experience at the hands of officials before being deported to Gdansk in June, according to a report in the HGV Driver’s Diary, which has been circulating widely on social media.
The cost of exporting to the EU are already up by 17%. Scotch Whisky exports are down by £5 million a week.
Imports are not so badly impacted as exports but the situation is likely to get worse at the start of October when Britain is scheduled to introduce delayed import controls on meat - the rules for plants come in on January 1.
The UK depends heavily on access to high-quality and affordable food from the EU - that is where most of the fresh fruit and vegetables eaten in the country originate.
There is clearly a problem, and potentially a worse problem for Scotland than other parts of the UK. A lot of food comes in via London, it has further to travel, there are more links in the chain.
Reports at the weekend said the UK Government is likely to draft in the Royal Logistics Corps HGV drivers by the end of September - but there are limited number. If you have used up those Covid stockpiles - this could be a good time to make sure there is some slack in the system.