Boris Johnson has told business leaders that avoiding Christmas food shortages is their responsibility, claiming it is not the government’s job to “fix” supply problems.
As the Conservative party conference opened, the prime minister admitted to having known for months that the haulage industry was in trouble – and, strikingly, admitted that the problems may continue into the festive season.
But, when asked if more emergency visas would be issued in order to mitigate the situation, he turned the tables on the industries involved, arguing it was “fundamentally up to them to work out the way ahead”.
“In the end, those businesses, those industries, are the best solvers of their own supply-chain issues – government can’t step in and fix every bit of the supply chain,” Mr Johnson told broadcasters.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, underlined the message, claiming that the prime minister should escape blame even if people are unable to buy what they want at Christmas.
“I don’t believe in a command-and-control economy, so I don’t believe the prime minister is responsible for what’s in the shops,” she insisted.
Although Mr Johnson did not fully rule out further help – after the weekend U-turn that saw visas for HGV drivers extended – the prime minister’s stance is a blow to business groups, whose leaders are pleading for the government to step in.
The British Chambers of Commerce said it was the government’s role to plug labour shortages, calling for visas to bring in EU workers to fill gaps in the care, hospitality, manufacturing and construction sectors.
Calling for “clarity and a plan”, its director-general Shevaun Haviland said: “Let’s sit down now together and look at the other sectors where we know there are issues coming down the line.
“Let’s try to get a plan in place for those, so we don’t get to another crisis point,” she told BBC Radio 4.
Labour accused the prime minister of “taking the British people for fools” and said that shortages were not a price worth paying to secure the high-wage, high-skill economy everyone wants.
“We won’t get there by keeping shelves empty and forecourts dry – and what we urgently need now are more HGV drivers,” said Bridget Phillipson, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.
“The shortfall of skilled workers we’re facing is a direct result of the Conservatives’ lack of planning and incompetence.”
Alison Williams, a member of the Commons cross-party UK Trade and Business Commission and global head of data at DunnHumby, accused ministers of trying to “wash their hands” of the problems.
“Countless businesses have told us about the problems caused by the government’s threadbare Brexit deal. It is an undeniable factor in the current supply crisis,” she said.
Mr Johnson also sparked a row over the future of more than 100,000 pigs at risk of being slaughtered because a dearth of butchers has created a back-up on farms.
“I hate to break it to you, but I am afraid our food-processing industry does involve the killing of a lot of animals,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, downplaying the problem.
Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association, described the potential cull as “heartbreaking”, adding: “It is an incredibly distressing situation to find yourself in.”
The clashes came as ministers shifted their position, having initially denied any link between Brexit and the staff and supply shortages.
Speaking in Manchester, Mr Johnson switched tack, calling the problems a “period of adjustment” that will deliver the higher wages that Leave voters wanted when they backed Britain’s exit from the EU.
Mr Johnson was asked by Mr Marr whether he meant that “we, as a country, have to go through some bumps, some shortages, some queues on the way – and that, folks, is what you voted for”.
The prime minister replied: “When people voted for change in 2016, and when people voted for change again in 2019, as they did, they voted for the end of a broken model of the UK economy that relied on low wages, and low skill, and chronic low productivity – and we’re moving away from that.”
Mr Johnson was also accused of misrepresenting official data when claiming that “wages are finally going up for the low-paid”.
It was pointed out that the Office for National Statistics had found that “wages are not keeping pace with inflation”, so that “in real terms, over the last three months, wages have gone down, not up”.
Meanwhile, the Petrol Retailers Association warned that, while supply is now “plentiful” in the north, there are still major shortages in London and the southeast.
