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The UK needs to “stand on its own two feet” and solve the current HGV driver crisis without relying on foreign workers to plug the gap, the transport secretary repeated this week.

Grant Shapps (pictured) also said the driver shortage was a global problem and it was “completely untrue” to put the blame on Brexit.

His comments came as Morrisons warned that it expected food prices to rise this year due to the lorry driver shortage and higher freight charges.

Responding to comments from the SNP’s shadow transport minister that the penny had finally dropped for the government now that it was attempting to expedite the testing process, Shapps admitted that it was “an urgent measure”.

He said: “I hear his call for more immigration to resolve the problem, but we do have to stand on our own two feet as the United Kingdom.

“There are a lot of people coming off furlough, and I look forward to those people getting jobs.”

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The transport secretary also insisted that the shortage was caused by Covid-19: “It is a fact that there is a global shortage,” he said.

“In the US, for example, drivers are being hired from South Africa. In Poland, the shortage is 123,000 and, in Germany, 45,000 to 60,000.

“To say that this is just a Brexit issue is completely untrue; it is about coronavirus.”

Meanwhile, in its latest trading figures for the half year to 1 August, Morrisons said the whole of the British food industry was facing continued challenges caused by Covid-19 and supply chain cost increases.

In a statement, it said: “We expect some industry-wide retail price inflation during the second half, driven by sustained recent commodity price increases and freight inflation, and the current shortage of HGV drivers.

“We will seek to mitigate these and other potential cost increases, such as any incurred to maintain good on-shelf availability.”

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