Brexit: Now even the army is needed to ensure there’s petrol for everyone?
No man is an island. This is applicable to countries as well. This is especially true when it comes to economy and trade. No trade, no economic growth lah. No economic growth, stop talking about more jobs and later on, more demand for goods and after that, properties and more.
When it comes to economic grouping, the European Union (EU) is extremely powerful and when they do trade negotiations, they do as a group. ASEAN is a loose coalition of countries and we could be even more powerful if we could negotiate with any other country or groupings as an economic bloc versus individually like what is happening today.
Anyway, ASEAN can do more but for now let’s look at this country where even the access to petrol to drive their cars is threatened simply because they do not have enough truck drivers now that no EU citizens could work in the UK without lots of bureaucracy. The UK decided for Brexit and now they start to feel even more effects from it. Latest one is this.
Article in nst.com.my Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy said in a statement issued late on Monday that the army is on standby to help with ongoing fuel crisis due to tanker driver shortages which led to panic buying and causing many of the country’s pumps dry.
The Petrol Retailers Association said almost half of the UK’s 8,000 fuel pumps had run out of petrol on Sunday, blaming “panic-buying, pure and simple” for the issue.
The government has already made a drastic U-turn on tighter post-Brexit immigration policy, offering short-term visa waivers to foreign truckers to help plug the shortfall.
Critics blame government inaction on tackling shortages of lorry drivers after Britain’s departure from the European Union in January and the pandemic, which saw many foreign truckers leave the country. There are a lot more details on how potentially bad the situation could become. Read it here: Article in nst.com.my
