Why Hauliers and poultry workers to get temporary visas in the UK

UK government has decided to provide about 5 000 visas for people who drive fuel tankers and food lorries from the start of October 2021. They will last only until Christmas Eve. It is thought that the shortfall of heavy vehicle drivers in the UK runs into tens of thousands. The problem has been building for years but has worsened following Brexit and the pandemic. This news was a step in the right direction that might well get the UK over the peak time. although it would have seen in four months it is known that it's not enough and it's too little and too late. Basically, the government had resisted calls from return and freight business groups for a short-term relaxation of immigration rules now that's changed it follows two days of issues at petrol stations which began with a shortage of drivers delivering to some garages and became widespread once drivers ignored. It should not be panic by the group which represents European haulers and isn't sure how many drivers will want to come. So we will need to see once the new provisions will be officially adopted. It can be said that the shortage of drivers is a long-term problem. it's a long-term issue that requires a long-term solution and this will also depend upon the type of transportation from the EU to the UK.

The trade body representing major UK supermarkets insisted because they alone needed at least 15 000 lorry drivers to avoid Christmas disruption five and a half thousand chicken and truck workers will also be eligible for visas. But one business group said these latest measures only helped to a limited extent look. It's a really good start but it’s just not going to be enough. The UK has a critical shortage of really skilled workers, not just these drivers but also in other sectors too and we need a proper plan on how we're going to transition from where we are now to what's really coming. This is going to really wreck our economic recovery unless we absolutely sort our supply chain issues. Now funding has also been announced to train up 4 000 more UK drivers and use staff from the ministry of defense to boost the number of test examiners. The government says visas won't be a long-term solution insisting. it's the responsibility of businesses to invest in the domestic workforce.

Chief political correspondent Adam Fleming is in Brighton for labor’s annual conference and inevitably that's going to dominate as a talking point but there is no sense that the government has been backed into a corner on this because they didn't want to throw open the doors again. If you like they should go to the workers from outside the UK. There are definitely some cabinet ministers that didn't think extra visas were the answer to this but they've obviously been overruled when the government has seen a blockage to a crucial bit of the economy. So they've decided that they had to go ahead with letting more people into the country but it is for a limited period.

These visas will run out on Christmas Eve and it's for a limited number of people in a limited number of sectors. Five thousand hollers five thousand five hundred people working in the poultry sector and if you had a Brexiteer cabinet minister here they would say it is consistent with the UK's new post-Brexit immigration policy which is to have extra visas for jobs where there's a shortage and it is not a return to the free movement of people that was part of EU membership. In terms of the conference itself today there's the whole question about changes to leadership rules but what they really want to be talking about is their vision for education in England. So what are they saying yeah so the big policy today is that labor would continue with something proposed by Jeremy Corbyn when he was in charge. Which is that you take away the charitable status of private schools which means they'd have to pay more tax labor thinks that would raise about 1.6 billion pounds which you could spend on better careers advice for pupils and also upgrading all those laptops that were handed out during the pandemic but the conferences started off with a bit of an internal row about the internal party procedures over how you elect future labor leaders.

It looks like Kyra Starmer has got that through a watered-down version of his proposals through the first phase of the machine. But now it will go to party members who vote on it today Kirsten has also got this issue about is he really cutting through um and making a name for himself and is the public really getting to know him and Lisa Nandy the shadow foreign secretary says that this first in-person conference will be an opportunity for him to do that one of the problems which we've had over the last 18 months is that we haven't been able to get out and speak to the country.