Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ranil Jayawardena and Gavin Newlands

Thursday 2nd December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

4. What recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of labour shortages on UK (a) export and (b) import levels.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade (Mr Ranil Jayawardena)]

As the global economy has rebounded from the pandemic, we have seen pressures placed on supply chains across sectors and across the world. It is this Government who have taken quick and decisive action across the United Kingdom to ease those pressures where immediate interventions have been required. The Minister is redefining “quick and decisive”. An Aviva study indicates that more than seven out of 10 businesses are worried about skills shortages and 25% of businesses said their biggest risk is the uncertainty caused by Brexit. The temporary visa scheme for poultry workers has now closed and only nine people applied to join the Government scheme designed to boost the number of fuel tanker drivers, out of an intended 300. Given the failure of those schemes, why will the Government not consider devolving immigration powers, which could deliver the stronger labour market they profess to want but in reality are actively frustrating?