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Ministers may be poised to U-turn and relax post-Brexit immigration rules to ease a shortage of lorry drivers, newspapers are reporting. It comes as panic-buying causes massive queues outside forecourts following the closure of a small number of BP and Tesco petrol stations. Petrol stations have struggled to bring in supplies of fuel in recent days because of the lorry driver shortage, which has been put down to several causes, but principally Brexit and Covid. Journalists at the Financial Times and the i have reported that a cross-government meeting taking place today (24 September) will sign off on introducing “temporary” visas for HGV drivers as part of efforts to head off the crisis, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson said to have been won over to the proposal. Earlier today it emerged that the government was weighing up options for fixing labour shortages in the food sector, including possible changes to visa arrangements for seasonal workers. [pullquote]Drivers with options to work elsewhere in Europe are not going to choose to work in a country where they have to go through the hassle and cost of applying for a visa” – Joanna Hunt, Fieldfisher[/pullquote] Environment secretary George Eustice has suggested that changes to the Seasonal Agricultural Workers’ Scheme – a quota-based scheme that allows farmers to recruit from overseas – were being considered, amid concerns about possible food shortages and panic-buying this Christmas. A similar move for HGV drivers would be significant U-turn for a government that is urging sectors to rely more on homegrown labour, with home secretary Priti Patel thought to be particular resistant to any relaxation of immigration rules. The haulage industry estimates there is a shortage of around 100,000 lorry drivers and has been urging ministers to set up a temporary visa for weeks. It is thought that environment secretary George Eustice is backed by the Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay in calling for more HGV drivers to be allowed to work in the UK from overseas.
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