The United Kingdom has been shut off from much of Europe after its closest allies cut transport ties due to fears about a new strain of the coronavirus, sowing chaos for families and companies just days before it exits the European Union’s orbit.
However the French Government has said that that it aims to establish Europe-wide sanitary protocol measures “in the coming hours” to allow the resumption of traffic flows with the United Kingdom
The country’s Transport Minister, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, said on Twitter:
“In the next few hours, at European level, we’re going to establish a solid health protocol to ensure that movement from the UK can resume. Our priority: to protect our nationals and our fellow citizens.”
Supermarket chain Sainsbury said that there is plenty of Christmas food, but there will be shortages on some fruit and veg adding that if nothing changes we will start to see gaps over the coming days on lettuce, some salad leaves, cauliflower, broccoli and citrus fruit.
It confirmed it is sourcing everything it can from the UK and looking into alternative transport for products sourced from Europe.
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Belgium, Israel and Canada shut off travel ties after Boris Johnson warned that a highly infectious new strain of the virus was a danger to the country.
France shut its border to arrivals of people and trucks from the United Kingdom, closing off one of the most important trade arteries with mainland Europe, a step Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said was surprising.
“I’m in touch with my opposite number in France and we’re doing everything we can to get that restarted, in fact they’ve said to us they want to restart the hauliers as quickly as possible,” he told Sky News.
Shapps said getting the bans lifted as swiftly as possible was his priority but that given British preparations for the end of the Brexit transition period, the country was well prepared for disruption.
The Road Haulage Association (RHA) warned, however, that the plans by France alone to shut its border for at least 48 hours threatened “enormous disruption” to vital food and trade supplies so close to Christmas.
Rob McKenzie, RHA director of policy, said that even though France will allow incoming freight to the UK, they cannot return, saying it was “a bitter blow for the UK logistics industry which is struggling with the transport crisis caused by Covid and Brexit”.
He added: “Drivers can come in but they cannot go back with the border shut for 48 hours. Trade is a two-way street, what goes out, comes back and visa versa. So any disruption to free-flowing goods at this time of year will have severe consequences. It is an absolute mess.”
Boris Johnson will chair an emergency response meeting today to discuss international travel, in particular the flow of freight in and out of Britain, a spokeswoman for his office said.
More than £33billion has been wiped off the FTSE 100 within minutes of opening, dropping more than 2 per cent over fears of a no-deal Brexit and new coronavirus restrictions.
