BORIS Johnson will chair a COBRA meeting to prevent Christmas food shortages as stores could run out of fruit or vegetables within days.
The PM will lead to the meeting to try to hold back a surge of panic-buying as France shut down air, sea and the Eurotunnel routes to prevent the mutant Covid strain leaving the UK on lorries.
Lorry queues are already stretching seven miles along routes to ports in both Britain and France as fears have grown over the certainty of food supply.
It comes after all of London and the South East were thrown into draconian lockdown over the super-contagious strain of Covid.
The PM will try to hash out a plan to get lorries moving again, and ensure certainty of supply to British supermarkets.
And this morning Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he would be speaking to his opposite number in France this morning to try and bring the drawbridge back down into France.
Mr told Sky News: “The absolute key is to get this resolved as soon as possible.
“There’s a meeting taking place actually right now in Europe about it, in order to co-ordinate approaches.
Ian Wright, the chief exec of the Food and Drink Federation, warned there is “concern” around food supplies after the Christmas period.
He said: “The problem is the return journey of drivers coming to the UK.
“Over time, because the transport system requirese these round trips, that will reduce the ability to bring food into the country after Christmas if that takes effect.”
Mr Shapps stressed there were still goods coming in and out of the UK via other routes.
It comes as:
- The supply of the Covid vaccine won’t be disrupted by the chaos at Dover
- Emmanuel Macron ordered all routes into France from the UK be closed for 48 hours
- Panic-buyers started queuing from 5am this morning as fears over food shortages grew
- Heathrow was in chaos as passengers were stranded after a host of European countries banned travel from the UK
General manager of trade group Logistics UK Alex Veitch told the BBC the Government needs to hammer out a solution with EU partners.
But he said the ban is only affecting outbound trade and that inbound goods are still moving.
Alex Veitch, general manager of trade group Logistics UK, told the BBC that the Government needs to work with EU partners to come up with a pragmatic solution to give the French and other authorities confidence that drivers are Covid-free.
But he added that the ban is only affecting outbound freight with drivers in a truck, and that inbound goods are still moving.
Mr Veitch stressed there is no need to panic buy.
He warned: “This is why we are saying at the current time, please, there is no need to panic-buy, there are goods available in the shops, retailers are doing everything they can.
“But at the same time it is serious and we do need a resolution as quickly as possible.”
As many as 10,000 lorries which travel in both directions each way between Britain and France were halted, and haulage industry insiders warned last night that vital food and goods supplied could dry up as truckers refuse to try and cross for fear of being trapped.
An industry source told Trending In The News over the weekend: “Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse – disaster on top of disaster – I fear for supermarket supply chains.”
Calais MP Pierre-Henri Dumont suggested truckers could have a Covid swab before entering France to try and slash the queue – but prevent the new strain from spreading out of Britain.
He said the 48 hour border shut-down was not just about protecting Calais and France but about keeping the virus from spreading to all of Europe.
Mr Dumont said: “I think one solution which would be effective is actually to provide negative tests that was (done) in the last 24 hours, for example, to enter the European continent.
“The main goal of this 48 hours is not only to talk about Calais or France but to talk about Europe… and a test could be a good way to ensure that traffic both sides doesn’t go on.”
Last night border shutdown – which must have been sanctioned by French president Emmanuel Macron sparked crisis talks between supermarkets, No10 and the French.
The severity of the sudden shutdown was laid bare last night in a tweet from Eurotunnel.
It announced to passengers: “URGENT: UK-France border closes 23:00 GMT tonight. Last shuttle UK-FR is 21:34 GMT, please check in on time. Access to UK site prohibited from 22:00 GMT.”
A French government spokesman said earlier : “All flows of people from the United Kingdom to France are suspended from midnight tonight, for 48 hours, and for all means of transport”.
Germany – now back in lockdown – also looks certain to stop flights into the UK from today.
