By Border closures strike fear of Christmas food shortages as emergency talks take place
The Prime Minister is holding emergency talks to avoid Christmas food shortages after France banned freight and travel from the UK last night.
Mr Johnson is chairing a crisis Cobra meeting of senior ministers and officials amid fears that some imported food and goods could run out in as little as two weeks.
Around 10,000 lorries a day travel between Dover and Calais during peak periods such as Christmas.
The PM was forced into action after France and several other European countries responded to his tier 4 Covid lockdown in southeast England by announcing a two-day travel ban from the UK.
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, Bulgaria and most recently, Denmark, have all announced restrictions on UK travel, after he revealed the highly transmittable new coronavirus strain has gripped the region.
The government’s biggest fear is that supplies of food and even the Covid vaccine could be hit because French hauliers will not travel to the UK if they cannot return home.
However, reports of military aircraft ready to airlift Pfizer vaccines from Belgium are ready if needed to ensure that vaccine freight will continue unaffected.
Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, played down the prospect of any medicine or food shortages, stating that there was no reason for people to buy any more food than normal in the run up to Christmas.
He added that:
“Authorities are ready for a degree of disruption”.
Kent Police have implemented Operation Stack, a system to park lorries on the M20 motorway in Kent at times of disruption to deal with the build-up of traffic.
With the travel chaos currently coinciding with the latest deadlock in Brexit trade talks in Brussels, there have been calls from opposition politicians for an extension to the transition period, due to end on the 31st of December.
