The British prime minister hopes that the shortage of skilled workers in the country will boost salaries and productivity. But the ongoing crisis threatens to overshadow the conservative party congress.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not want to relax immigration rules despite the ongoing fuel crisis. Johnson said on the eve of his Conservatives’ start of the party on Sunday in Manchester.
Due to the lack of truck drivers, drivers in the UK are currently struggling to get petrol or diesel. Long queues form in front of the petrol stations, and many of them are no longer available. The fuel crisis threatens to overshadow the Tory conference.
“What we don’t want is to go back to a situation where the logistics industry relies on a lot of cheap immigration workers,” said Johnson while visiting a hospital in Leeds on Saturday. The consequence of this is that “wages do not rise and the quality of jobs does not increase”. The British economy must end its dependence on poorly paid foreign workers in order to become a “well-paid, well-educated, highly productive economy”.
The UK is currently estimated to be missing around 100,000 truck drivers. This has already led to empty shelves in supermarkets. There is also a significant shortage of skilled workers in other sectors, such as the meat industry. Large numbers of workers from the eastern EU countries have emigrated since the British decided to leave the community of states.
In the short term, however, London wants to use foreign specialists. In order to get the fuel shortage under control, the government announced on Saturday that it would extend the deadlines for the work visas already planned. Visas are to be issued immediately for 300 tanker truck drivers and will be valid until March.
A total of 5,000 foreign truck drivers are to be lured into the country for a limited period from the end of October. Instead of Christmas, they should now be able to stay until February. However, associations on the continent doubt whether the limited offer will meet with interest from Polish and other Eastern European drivers.
As early as Monday, around 200 British military personnel, including 100 truck drivers, are expected to help distribute fuel. The government also sent a million letters to truck drivers asking them to return to the trucking profession. The addressees also reportedly included thousands of Germans living in the UK who had obtained their car driver’s license before 1999 – but had never driven a truck. The class 3 driving license issued at the time also applies to smaller trucks up to 7.5 tons.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
