RISHI Sunak’s claims that the UK Government is doing “absolutely everything we can” to fix the supply chain crisis have been branded “patently false”.
The Tory Chancellor has been forced to reassure Brits that the festive period will not be ruined by shortages amid warnings of a "bleak Christmas".
A major logjam has affected the UK’s largest commercial port in recent days, with toys, furniture and other good left undelivered in shipping containers at Felixstowe.
The UK also remains desperately short of HGV drivers, many of whom left the country due to Brexit.
Earlier this week, Tory minister Oliver Dowden admitted the UK Government has only approved visas of 20 additional overseas HGV drivers despite facing a shortage of 10,000.
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Speaking to the BBC after G7 talks in Washington, Sunak blamed global factors for delays seen at ports such as Felixstowe, but added: "We’re doing absolutely everything we can to mitigate some of these challenges."
"I'm confident there'll be a good amount of Christmas presents available for everyone to buy," the Chancellor said.
But those comments have sparked anger from the SNP, who said the UK Government’s hardline Brexit, implemented during the middle of the pandemic, is to blame for the UK’s critical situation.
"Rishi Sunak's claims are patently false,” MP Drew Hendry said. “Tory ministers repeatedly ignored industry warnings and have failed to take the action required to mitigate Boris Johnson's disastrous hard Brexit, which is in a large part responsible for the supply chain crisis hitting the UK.
"It is damaging Tory Brexit decisions that have caused the severe staffing shortages and increased trade barriers, costs and red tape for businesses and consumers – costing Scotland billions of pounds. The Tory government must finally take responsibility and urgently get a grip of the crisis it has caused.
"This must include meaningful action to fill the staffing gaps in the supply chain - including significantly increasing the number and length of visas available for HGV drivers, agricultural workers, and other workers to make them available and more attractive.”
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He added: "It is absurd that, just two months from Christmas, the UK Government has only approved around 20 visas for the 100,000 HGV driver shortage, and is still only contemplating visas for the agricultural sector, as pigs are being slaughtered – when it has heard the warnings for years.
"The SNP will continue to press for immediate action but no amount of papering over the cracks can fully mitigate the damage that Brexit has caused. The only way to keep Scotland safe from the long-term damage of Brexit is to become an independent country, with the full powers needed to regain our place in Europe and protect our economy."
At the G7 meeting of world finance ministers and central bank governors, officials agreed to fresh measures to tackle shipping logjams.
In the US, the Port of Los Angeles agreed to start operating 24 hours a day to try to clear long queues of cargo ships.
But retailers in the UK are warning of shortages at Christmas.
Gary Grant, boss of The Entertainer toy retailer, told the BBC that demand "will outstrip availability" due to a lack of HGV drivers.
"There'll never be toy shops with no toys," he said. "There will be toy shops without all the toys that they would normally expect to have due to the shortages, and that is largely down to transportation and warehouse issues, rather than there being a shortage of toys."
Meanwhile, the chief of the UK’s biggest poultry firm has warned that prices will jump by more than 10%.
Ranjit Boparan, founder of 2 Sisters Food Group, said British shoppers are facing a “great food reset” on the back of soaring inflation across the sector, hitting costs including wages, energy and CO2.
SNP business spokesperson Stephen Flynn commented: "The UK is heading for a bleak Christmas – as the Tory cost of living crisis and soaring cost of Brexit hits millions of families and businesses in every community."
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