He tried to downplay it, but now Boris Johnson's government has fielded the army against the danger of the British spending a Christmas on foot and without turkey.
As of Monday, two hundred soldiers, half of them truck drivers, will be deployed to the Kingdom to supply service stations. The work visa will also be extended to around 300 foreign truck drivers until March next year.
And as the problem begins to affect food products as well, Downing Street has extended the permit to another 10 thousand foreign workers, including road hauliers and workers in the poultry sector.
A paradox for the people who voted for Brexit five years ago above all to limit the entry of migrants looking for jobs.
"Only skilled immigrants" was the mantra of Boris Johnson and the "Brexiters", who wanted only graduates, engineers, scientists, doctors in the Kingdom. A mantra that is backfiring, and has led Britain into a supply crisis. Without precedents.
LONG QUEUES FOR PETROL AND THE FOOD CRISIS - On the petrol front, the situation is still critical in London and in the south-east of England. Even today, long queues and distributors have run out of steam. The situation, on the other hand, is improving in Scotland, in the north of England and in the Midlands.
But if the fuel crisis improves, the food crisis worsens. The butchers' association has sounded the alarm: "The supplies of meat for next Christmas are at risk". In short, His Majesty's subjects risk having to give up the traditional turkey, or the "pigs in blankets", the sausages wrapped in puff pastry.
For this reason, the government has decided to extend 4,700 visas for food transport drivers until the end of February and another 5,500 for foreign poultry workers until 31 December. Just in time for the dinner.
(Unioneonline / L)
