Take These (Supply) Chains from My Heart

[Psamathe]

It's probably obvious but Johnson has created his own lose-lose situation. After so many lies to the electorate about the Brexit Elysian Fields, if he now admits we need foreign HGV drivers (incl those from the EU) he's admitting we need them more than they need us and that he's caused the current HGV issues by driving away those EU drivers previously working in the UK. He's trying to push the "better pay" but the Conservatives have always pushed the "market forces" as the solution to everything so if they are to be believed the pay rates are as per those "market forces" (and if they aren't then it just shows how those "market forces" just don't work).

Trouble is the longer Johnson leaves it the more often Brexit get mentioned and the more people will be panic buying and the more empty shelves and more closed petrol stations and the more Brexit is blames and who push Brexit on the UK?

Ian

[reohn2]

Whilst on the one hand the country will continue to suffer on more levels than just empty shelves and petrol stations which is bad and will only get worse,OTOH as long as it continues the Tories are driving nails into their own coffin,which can only be a good for the country as a whole in the longer term.

[Oldjohnw]

Whilst some of today’s problems are long standing and others are wider than the UK, the fact is that it is the tories who are in power and have been for some time. As FDR said, the buck stops here. So far they are mainly in denial.

[reohn2]

Whilst some of today’s problems are long standing and others are wider than the UK, the fact is that it is the tories who are in power and have been for some time. As FDR said, the buck stops here. So far they are mainly in denial.

Personally I see the buck stopped in 1979,from 1997 to 2008 was still Toryism under New Labour,2008 to 2019 just got worse,2019 to present became a total shambolic mammary glands skyward mother of all fook ups as the loonies not only took over the asylum but owned it!

[Jdsk]

"UK pharmacies in dark about ministers’ plan to maintain drug supplies"
"Chemists wait for details of measures to ensure driver shortages do not adversely affect deliveries of prescription drugs"
https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... g-supplies

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

Letter to all HGV driving licence holders:



Jonathan

PS: In case you're wondering... "The Baroness Vere of Norbiton":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte ... f_Norbiton

[Oldjohnw]

I thought Julie Andrews had taken the job.

Do you know when this letter was sent?

[Jdsk]

I don't even know if it's genuine! We should find out today.

Jonathan

PS: And we might just get an official statement on those additional visas...

[Psamathe]

Begging letter like that whill have Liam Neeson rushing to his nearest job center.

Ian

[Jdsk]

Daily Mail today.

All based on unattributable leaks from Ministers. Someone needs to get a grip (in English).

Jonathan

[Psamathe]

Interesting aspect to these 5000 EU HGV driver visas expiring on Christmas Eve:

Priti Patel welcomes opportunity to deport people on Christmas day
...
A spokesperson for Ms Patel explained; “Her instinct is to keep all foreigners out of Britain – she still remembers the look on her parents’ faces when the border police escorted them to the the airport – so she was cautious about the temporary visa scheme when she first heard about it. But when they told her the visa expires on Christmas Eve, she had a vision of of festive police vans arriving outside people’s homes on Christmas morning that gave her a smile she hasn’t lost yet.”

Ian

[Jdsk]

Do you know when this letter was sent?

It is genuine, and the statement is from 25 September:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... olders.pdf

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

PS: And we might just get an official statement on those additional visas...

"More support to help people to become HGV drivers among package of government measures to ease risk of shortages":
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/more ... -shortages

"Up to 5,500 poultry workers to help deliver Christmas dinners":
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/up-t ... as-dinners

"HGVisas: what do we know so far?":
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/hgvisas ... ow-so-far/

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

"Grant Shapps’ plan to let truckers work longer hours falls flat":
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/20 ... fall-flat/
(Paywalled)

Only a fraction of British truck drivers have taken up the Government’s offer for them to work longer hours, new ­figures reveal, as the haulage crisis escalates.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps temporarily relaxed rules in July despite warnings it could pose a safety risk.

In the first month of the relaxation, just 517 of the UK’s roughly 300,000 active HGV drivers notified the Department for Transport that they intended to use the scheme, according to figures obtained by The Telegraph.

Of that number, 369 provided follow-up documentation saying how the relaxation had been used, with 97 saying they had not used the policy in the end, a freedom of information request showed.

Take-up was even lower in between Aug 8 and Sept 13, the latest date for which information was provided. During this period, only 191 operators stated their intention to use extended hours – about one in every 1,700 drivers.

Jonathan

[Oldjohnw]

All this trouble HMG is going to, all for a problem which doesn’t exist.