
I try not to revel but she really got my goat with that comment a couple of years back and seeing a little bit of food shortages inspires a bit of schadenfreude in the worst part of me.
The famine In Ireland was directly caused by the UK exporting good crops and leaving nothing for the people here, three million people died, perhaps it is ignorance on her part, or a malicious little suggestion harking back to the days of genocide.
The reason I post this is the it seems the UK media are blaming pandemic for the food shortages and the media is going out of its way to not use brexit within 500 meters of any news article about food shortages.
Online I see people saying that if brexit is having an effect its only part of it and the majority of the reason is the pandemic:
Ireland, which is further from continental Europe and does not have a direct tunnel, is not experiencing any shortages, Covid is not a factor. Like at ALL. The supply chain issues the UK is currently experiencing are directly due to brexit and nothing else, but understanding why is the hard part.
Suppliers used to deliver to the UK and load up fully before returning continental Europe, now they are returning with half loads or worse, empty trucks, to avoid having to sit in customs for hours.
That is the first source of reduced shipping to the UK, its no longer as profitable for companies to do so.
The second is the driver shortage.
Again the online argument is that if drivers were paid more the issue would resolve and that businesses need to adapt and pay more. Unfortunately, while this would reduce the effect a little, the core issue is that a Driver who leaves home for delivery in France or Germany can deliver to most of the EU and be home before bed. This is incredibly difficult now with the UK, the adapting of increasing the pay for inconvenience is being forgone for personal quality of life. IE these lads dont want to shit on the side of the road in a six - eight hour wait at customs before having to resume to their destination, and then have to go home.
So the option is not just to pay for those extra hours of wait, but the inconvenience will need to be factored into the pay, you could be looking at double or triple pay to even attract the drivers back to the UK, and that is if there are
no further delays added to the journeyThis current problem cannot be resolved without: full autonomous truck delivery or rejoining the customs union. Or of course, get used to rickets from the lack of sale of citrus fruits.
The UK hasn't even implemented its side of the controls (which just adds to the endless catchphrase hypocrisy of "Taking back control of our borders").
This is due to happen October 1st, which it wont, because that wont just slow the supply chain further, it will grind to a standstill.