As supermarkets warn of food shortages people blame government for Brexit chaos

Boris Johnson speaking in the House of Commons and an empty supermarket shelf


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People are criticising the government for the “chaos” caused by Brexit as companies warn of food shortages.

Brexit has been blamed for there not being enough HGV drivers to maintain supermarket supply chains. This is compounded by a global hike in gas prices, which has led to a shortage of carbon dioxide. The gas is used to refrigerate and deliver frozen products to supermarkets.

The result leaves the country facing a shortage of frozen meals in supermarkets, as well as affecting products like cheese and salad.

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Food shortages

Tesco chief John Allan told BBC Radio 4: 

We are very short of drivers, it’s a combination of many EU drivers having decided to go home and also the ageing age-profile.

I think certainly Brexit has been a contributor to that but also improving economies, higher wages in some of the countries that they’ve come from historically, have also led to that flow.

Allan said that the shortage of drivers meant Tesco has not been able to build the stock it normally does ahead of Christmas.

Several other chains have been impacted by food shortages. Poultry producer Avaro Foods also blamed Brexit for hurting supply chains, as did the chief exec of the British Meat Processors Association, the Co-Op, and Iceland.

Gas prices

In August, gas prices increased by over 70% with some estimates saying households could see a rise of their energy bills by £400 in a year.

The increases are in part due to a cold 2020 winter depleting gas stores, according to former Ofgem chief exec Dermot Nolan.

The gas price increase has already shut down two UK fertiliser plants which produce carbon dioxide as a by-product. This shortage in carbon dioxide has complicated the already existing food shortages.

#BrexitChaos

As a result, people are blaming Brexit and the government for the food shortages. According to the results of a new poll, over half of the respondents believed that Brexit has ‘created more problems than it’s solved’.

Featured image via YouTube/UK Parliament & Wikimedia Commons – Acabashi

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  • Show Comments

    1. The REAL Brexit Chaos was when everyone jumped on their Remoan/Brexiteer Bandwagons smashing empty tin cans, instead of supporting the only option we had to a fair Brexit with a Confirmatory if people didn’t agree. Written into the UK Labour Party Brexit Plan by Jeremy in Feb 2018! Yet for almost two years the Remoaners screamed for what they’ve already had in their hands and Freaking out the Brexiteers to such an extent that Pied Piper Galloway jumps on the Vote Brexit at Any Cost Bandwagon with Jester Farage!
      In the middle the many of us trying our desperate best to get people to hear what The UK Labour Party is saying to them, well we were laughed at, just as we are still laughed at, but look at it now dears, you have The Worse Conservative Party TORIES vs The EVEN Worse Neolabour Party TORIES and one fuck up of a Brexit! I am sure you got just what you wanted! Hope you are LOADED, Bahamas Offshore LOADED, because it’s going to get pretty rough from here on in no respite from 42 years going on 43 years of Thatcher’s Neoliberal TORYISM, however you vote!
      Me!? Voted remain, through lack of knowledge about the EU and I would have voted leave on a UK Labour Party Brexit Deal at the Confirmatory Vote.
      I have nothing to lose, as much as I want to feel empathy for All the Tsunamis of Tears, I am quite humoured to see them and remember what I tweeted to them, how many times and now they lament.
      Tough Shit Really!
      Didn’t vote UK Labour Party GE2019?
      You Did This To All of Us!
      OWN IT!
      https://ibb.co/album/SssX7n

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    3. Hey, stop being so concerned! The Establishment and the Tories will use the far-right to murder all the immigrants, all ‘non-whites’, liberals, socialists, union members, anyone with a degree, travellers, anyone who objects, and eventually anyone who can read and write but isn’t a multi-millionaire.

      And then there will be enough food for everyone…. well, for them. The new poor can eat fried maggots.

      Really, you have to stop looking at the negs, and start seeing the sunny uplands.

      Snowflakes!

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