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LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday (December 21) tried to sound a note of calm saying that he was working “as quickly as possible” to unblock trade across the English Channel after France closed its borders. to UK carriers in an attempt to contain a new variant of the coronavirus.
Following talks with French President Emmanuel Macron about the ban, which has caused chaos in the UK’s key port of Dover and raised concerns about food shortages just days before Christmas, Johnson said the chains supply remains “strong and solid”.
“These delays only apply to a very small percentage of food entering the UK,” the prime minister told a news conference, adding that he wanted to fix the problem “in the next few hours.”
France’s swift decision on Sunday, which was initially scheduled to last 48 hours, was made in an attempt to contain the new strain of the virus, discovered in the UK, which authorities say is 70 percent more transmissible.
The ban prompted Britain to introduce “Operation Stack,” the contingency plan drawn up to deal with anticipated loading delays on the roads around Dover in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
‘A BAD END FOR A BAD YEAR’
Earlier in the day, the prime minister called a meeting of Cobra’s emergency committee to discuss the situation regarding international travel and, in particular, the regular flow of cargo.
Misery piled up on travelers trying to leave Britain when around 30 nations introduced bans on people arriving from the UK in an attempt to contain the new coronavirus variant of the disease, which British officials say is a 70. % more transmissible than the main strain.
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The chaos on the roads surrounding the key port is a clear sign of what to expect if Britain leaves the EU without a deal in 10 days.
However, Johnson said that during his call with Macron the couple had “promised” not to discuss Brexit while negotiations between London and Brussels continue.
Road signs near the Canal port, through which 10,000 heavy vehicles pass each day, urged people on Monday to go home, saying the French border was closed.
David King, a trucker from Birmingham in the west of England, had been stranded in Dover trying to make a delivery to Belgium.
“It’s been a frustrating year, hasn’t it? For everyone, so this adds to it. A bad ending to a really bad year,” he told AFP.
“We hope to get home by Christmas. We will sit quietly and await the decisions that are made today,” he added.
A disused airfield will open later Monday to serve as truck parking for up to 4,000 stranded drivers.
British supermarket Sainsbury’s warned that a prolonged outage could cause “gaps in the coming days” in the supply of lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli and citrus.
CHAOTIC SCENES
The ban on all cargo cruises to France, except unaccompanied ones, comes at a time when companies struggle to move merchandise with days for Britain to finally abandon EU trade structures.
Those hoping for a deal warned that the current chaotic scenes could become a familiar sight without a breakthrough before the New Year’s deadline, leading to the imposition of new tariffs.
But Brexit supporters accused France of taking advantage of the crisis to try to force trade concessions.
“Restricting tourist travel from the UK seems justifiable at this stage,” tweeted anti-EU think tank Bruges Group.
“However, restricting cargo movements, as the French government is about to do, seems political,” he added.
France and the United Kingdom are in the middle of a heated debate over fishing rights after Brexit, the key point of the negotiations.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon were among the top politicians on Monday calling for an extension of the Brexit talks to avoid disruptions over the New Year.
‘OUT OF CONTROL’
Germany, Russia, Canada, Italy, Chile and Argentina are among other countries to announce flight bans to and from the country.
In response to the restrictions, the British Postal Service has temporarily suspended deliveries of parcels and letters to Europe with the exception of the Republic of Ireland.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and are ready to open our services as soon as we can once the restrictions have been lifted,” Royal Mail said in a statement.
It said it had also suspended service to Canada and Turkey due to “severely limited” air capacity.
Britain appeared to have turned the corner in its bid to quell the virus, launching a vaccine and falling infection rates.
But the emergence of the new strain has ruined the government’s plans, just as it comes to the end of talks with the EU.
The government had initially announced an easing of restrictions to allow families to reunite for Christmas, but changed its plans after it came forward last week with a dire analysis of the new strain that is spreading across south-east England. .
The UK government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, said at Monday’s press conference that transmission of the new variant of Covid had “clearly increased substantially”.
However, he added that the coronavirus vaccine should be effective against it and that otherwise the disease “looks the same as any other form of Covid infection.”
Britain has been severely affected by the pandemic, with more than 67,000 deaths of those testing positive for the virus.
