Boris Johnson indicates shortages could continue to Christmas

Boris Johnson has admitted he has known for months that the UK’s haulage industry was in trouble, as he indicated the supply chain problems besetting the economy could continue until Christmas.

On the opening day of the Tory Party Conference in Manchester, the Prime Minister insisted the fuel crisis was “abating” despite continuing reports of long queues for petrol in some parts of the economy.

However, he acknowledged the UK economy was facing “stresses and strains” as it moved away from the “broken model” which, he said, had been rejected by voters in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

But Mr Johnson insisted he would not solve the issues in the labour market – which have led to warnings of shortages on the shelves in the run-up to the festive season – by pulling “the big lever marked uncontrolled immigration” to allow in large numbers of foreign workers.

Asked on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show about a warning by Chancellor Rishi Sunak that shortages could continue to Christmas, Mr Johnson said: “Rishi is invariably right in everything he says.”

He then added hurriedly: “It depends how you interpret what he is saying.”

Mr Johnson was also pressed on a warning given by the Road Haulage Association which wrote to him in June saying a major crisis was building in their industry due to the shortage of HGV drivers.

The Prime Minister said: “We have known about shortages in road haulage long before then. They have been a chronic feature of the way the road haulage industry has worked.”