This week, I led Labour’s response to the Government’s failure to address the shortage of heavy goods vehicle drivers.

This potential crisis has been looming for some time, and we’re now being warned of food shortages and empty supermarket shelves in the coming months. It’s all down to a huge backlog of driving test applications, the Government’s mishandling of the pandemic, and its failure to sort out Brexit chaos at borders.

The Government’s response to this has been to increase the working hours of already-exhausted drivers and water down testing requirements for new lorry drivers. Labour is clear that these measures won’t solve the shortage, and will put road safety at risk.

Below is Labour’s letter to the Government calling for answers on what it’s doing to expand testing capacity, recruit more drivers from overseas and address the shortage without compromising safety.