Boris Johnson reverses visa rules when they run out of gas

But opening the border with Europe in this way is not popular with many Brexit advocates.

That Boris Johnson made a political shift in an immigration-friendly direction just days before the Conservative Party conference says something about how dire the situation is in Britain.

The days leading up to the Conservative Party convention are usually about the party members’ happiness. As a conservative prime minister, this is usually done through proposals to close the borders with Europe in various ways.

Or at least it’s not about opening it.

But now Boris Johnson is being reported According to The Times, they have decided to allow up to 5,000 foreign truck drivers to enter the country on short-term visas. He did so after chaos at several British petrol stations on Friday. EG Group, which owns 400 British petrol stations, had to introduce a rationing system at the pump yesterday: 30 pounds you had to refuel for, no more.

20 of BP’s gas stations had to shut down completely due to the lack of petrol or diesel. Same with many Sainsbury’s gas stations.

Around the small town of Bishops Stortford in north-east London, cars queued for at least half an hour at all two Shell petrol stations that were open on Friday afternoon. The third was off because there was nothing in the pump. The frustration was huge and people reported having to fill the car with spare cans that were actually meant for the lawn mower.

The government urged the people to calm. There is no shortage of fuel! There is only a shortage of truck drivers! Don’t panic! Just refuel as usual!

It may not be so easy if there is a shortage of gasoline at the gas station and everyone who drives can see the queues.

The situation began to become unsustainable on Thursday when Esso and BP publicly admitted that they had struggled to transport gasoline to their gas stations. This started panicking people, and chaos reigned in many places on Friday.

There is a shortage of about 100,000 truck drivers in Great Britain. These were the last six months It led to everything from widespread shortages of merchandise to the fact that truck drivers’ salaries rose to over SEK 50,000 per month in some places.

Britain’s exit from the European Union is part of the explanation. Many EU citizens who worked in the UK have returned home. The government’s new immigration system is designed to make it difficult for Europeans to migrate into the workforce. Until now, truck driver has not been on the list of “qualifying jobs” that you can easily obtain a visa to perform.

On top of that came the epidemic. The shutdown of large parts of the British economy last year meant that many British-born truck drivers the government intended to take on new jobs were unable to complete their training. The government announced yesterday that the army would step in and help train and test truck drivers.

All this in order to obtain qualified new labor as soon as possible.

But above all, Boris Johnson will Hence after changing the current short term temporary visa. This is despite the fact that only a week ago many political observers said he would never back down. After all, Brexit was all about getting rid of free European labor immigration: opening up to short-term visas would be an admission of blows.

If so in principle. Albeit only temporarily. It was said that there is no political improvement for the Prime Minister.

Although this was before British labor shortage hit gasoline. Advertising measures that open borders to Europe may not be popular with conservative grassroots, but this time Boris Johnson feels the necessity.

Winter is on its way and with it Christmas.

Boris Johnson does not want a shortage of goods in stores, chaos at petrol stations, and headlines about Brexit.

Brexit is not the main explanation to the shortage of truck drivers. It was built over many years in the UK. However, Brexit is the reason why European drivers cannot choose to resolve the emergency quickly.

And now Boris Johnson is opening up about it.

But the question is how many European drivers want to come. Working conditions in the UK are generally worse than on the continent.

There are calls for truck drivers in many parts of Europe at the moment.