HGV Driver Shortages Debate

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Department: Department for Transport

HGV Driver Shortages

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts
Monday 13th September 2021

(2 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Mohammad Yasin Portrait Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)
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Food products missing from supermarket shelves are commonplace, but my constituents are worried not only about the food shortages, but the shortages in vital medical equipment. We cannot resolve the supply chain problems if the Government will not face up to the cause. Will the Secretary of State admit that his Government’s trade and co-operation agreement with the EU is at the heart of the chronic shortages?

Grant Shapps Portrait Grant Shapps
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I cannot stand at this Dispatch Box and admit something that is patently untrue. It is not just me saying that; it is the labour unions and the international haulage associations, all of whom are saying that the pandemic is of course the root cause. I will not stand here and deny that there have been big changes to how our industry is operating, but no one can realistically deny that those problems have been coming along for a very long time. If there is a No. 1 cause, it clearly is the pandemic.