WHEN IDIOTS ARE IN CHARGE

WHEN IDIOTS ARE IN CHARGE

Slowly but surely supply shortages are building. It is no longer possible to disguise and it’s going to get worse, much worse.

Why? Well it is a perfect storm for the UK DISTRIBUTION INDUSTRY. A shortage of HGV drivers, latest estimates suggest as many as 100,000 are needed urgently. This is a most inflexible industry, heavily regulated in terms of training, drivers operating hours, logistic difficulties greatly made worse by Brexit that has chased home many foreign drivers. Then of course there is Covid and an understandable reluctance to send drivers from much safer areas into the UK, thereby losing the drivers services due to the greatly increased risk of infection or the need for self isolation. Nowhere more serious than in Scotland where distances are greater and the Covid problem is the worst in Europe at the moment.

Now I don’t work in this industry but I knew this problem was going to happen and that it would be very serious. How did I know? Simple, I talk with other people who run businesses and they have been experiencing growing problems for many months now. My own family restaurant business has been struggling to obtain the supplies of the wines on our wine list. Our suppliers, which are the largest wine distributors are struggling, we have been forced to look at alternative suppliers but they are ALL struggling. It’s not just wine, everyone from clothing suppliers to ice cream manufacturers are facing very serious shortages. Supermarkets, who probably have the most efficient and huge fleet of HGV VEHICLES are also having major shortages as their suppliers struggle to supply their central warehousing.

Key ingredients like flour add to the problem, so many food producers rely on supplies and any shortage or delay can bring their production to a standstill.

My question is why do we pay politicians high salaries when every day they are blind to the result of their own decisions? Here we are today facing huge problems that are going to get more serious. How can I be so sure about that? Here are some reasons

1. The Government have not taken any steps to resolve the problem, they have not speeded up driver registration and training, they have not offered exceptions to foreign drivers that would have encouraged many to return, they have not adjusted driver hour regulations. All measures that could have helped.
2. Meanwhile as more and more businesses reopen after Covid, all needing supplies and adding to the crisis, England is looking at “freedom day” on The 19th July which will result in a huge increase in demand from a transport system that is already cracking apart, and not just at the edges either.
3. Plans are needed now, particularly in Scotland to ensure those living in rural and remote locations are protected against major shortages. I would have thought it is already serious enough that the armed forces are drafted in to augment the number of drivers and vehicles.

All too often our politicians and legislators are behind the curve, sometimes so far behind they are out of sight. This is one of those moments. In Scotland for instance our soft fruit industry, already facing a labour shortage because Brexit has chased huge numbers of their former workers out the country, now face the added worry of transporting their crops to the market, if by some miracle they manage to overcome the labour shortage. These are time sensitive products, even a few days delay can be serious, when delays move into weeks it can be disaster.

What we should be asking is what the situation would have been had we have been independent? . Well I am not arguing that our idiots at Holyrood are any more capable than those at Westminster but I do believe industry in Scotland is much more capable of highlighting these problems and getting a response from Holyrood faster than trying to get the attention of those that matter in London. We would have been free to make our own regulations to ease the crisis. That would have been a crucial difference. Many of these key drivers would still be here, secure in their status. We could have speedily increased the allowable hours on a temporary basis. We could have speeded up the training and qualification system.

We have a right to expect quality Government, we have a right to expect our politicians to have their fingers on the pulse about priorities and to be able to identify how best to protect our citizens from the idiotic folly of allowing a neighbouring country to make all the big decisions about our futures. We will NEVER be their priority. Especially in a time of shortage.

Here is a hint, this means sorting out the big problems outlined above, the issues that are important to virtually everyone in Scotland, not deciding to prioritise a tiny percentage of our male population gaining access to women’s safe places so they can go for a pee in a dress. That advice is supplied free of charge. I am not Stonewall you don’t need to send me taxpayers cash so I can lobby you back.

I am, as always

Yours for Scotland.

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