Brexiteer Tory-funding bread manufacturer Warburtons has tried to blame its failure to keep up with local deliveries on Covid-19 when the shortage of drivers is actually attributable to Brexit.

In an article in The Grocer on July 19, the firm responded to a tweet complaining about non-delivery due to driver shortages:

We, like many businesses, are experiencing higher levels of absence due to the rise in community infection rates of Covid-19 and the knock on effect that has with more people having to self-isolate.”

But industry leaders soon went on the record to say that the shortage of lorry drivers is due to Brexit – and that supermarket shelves are likely to stay empty for at least five months:

They say the shortage of drivers can only be fixed if EU drivers are allowed back in the country.

Logistics UK, which represents freight owners including supermarkets.

It estimates a shortage of 90,000 HGV drivers including an estimate 25,000 EU truckers who have gone home following Brexit. On top of that there is a backlog of 25,000 applications for trucker driving licences.

Being a Brexiteer company, Warburtons is unlikely to admit that Brexit has affected it. Chairman Jonathan Warburton has previously made his feelings known:

“Brexit is a very good thing to have happened. We are well out of the rotting corpse of Europe. We could either continue to be in the European Union and wait for it to all to collapse around us, or we could make our own way out of it and crack on as an independent nation.”

Now we see how that is working for him – and he is trying to deny it.

Several thoughts occurred to me while watching this train crash.

Firstly, they could solve their problem by hiring new drivers. Unfortunately, this is not possible because they would all need HGV licences and “there is a backlog of 25,000 applications for trucker driving licences.” So the Tory government is letting industry down. Should have thought of this before finalising Brexit – they only had four years of thinking time!

Secondly, there’s no reason to have any sympathy for this firm. It supported Brexit and is a regular donor to the Conservative Party whose government under Boris Johnson pushed Brexit down our collective throats. See This Site’s article on Tory donors for further information.

Finally, This Writer is old enough to remember news reports showing empty shelves in the former Soviet supermarket GUM, with Tories of the day spouting dread predictions that this would happen in the UK if the socialists were allowed back into government.

How ironic that it is under a Tory government, and due to Tory policies, that our supermarket shelves have emptied.

Source: Warburtons struggling to keep up with local deliveries as driver shortage bites | News | The Grocer

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