From: Pauline Allon, Ilkley

I WAS furious when I heard the Government blame panic buying by the public as the cause of the current fuel problems. This is not true. The Government are mostly responsible for the fuel problems and empty supermarket shelves. The problems are due to a shortage of HGV drivers, estimated to be approximately 90,000 and exacerbated by the hard Brexit negotiated by Lord Frost (the Brexit negotiator). According to ‘The Grocer’ the Government was aware of the HGV driver shortage in both the UK and Europe prior to Brexit which should have triggered alarm bells with Frost and Johnson because their hard Brexit increased export/import bureaucracy and changed immigration rules removing the rights of EU drivers to live and work in the UK forcing approximately 13,000 drivers to leave following Brexit and a further 70,000 after Covid. Had the Government negotiated a softer Brexit with free trade, a customs union arrangement and less draconian immigration laws the chaos we are now experiencing would surely not have occurred, sadly the Government decided their political ideology was best for the UK.

Brexit has cost this country over £200bn (fullfact.org) and what have we gained? Rising food prices, difficulties obtaining fuel, empty supermarket shelves to name but a few of the many well documented disadvantages faced by UK citizens following Brexit.