Brexit: The United Kingdom’s struggle to get through the winter and keep their economy going

Luise Lichtenstein 8b

No truck drivers, no fuel for cars. No truck drivers, no food in shops. No foreign workers, no truck drivers. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has often spoken about a number of (especially economic) benefits arising from Brexit, but in the past few weeks, the opposite has been the case: empty shelves in supermarkets, long queues at gas stations, and skyrocketing electricity and heating costs. Johnson’s cabinet is still optimistic and claims that the current situation has been caused by coronavirus.

After being delayed by a few months, Brexit came into effect on 31 January 2020, with the test phase ending in December. Instantly, chaos broke out on the islands, with empty supermarkets being the first noticeable consequence of Brexit. The situation has not gotten any better: food may be there, but the truck drivers have found jobs in their home countries. Boris Johnson’s idea of giving Polish truck drivers a 3 month visa has been laughed at, just like his idea that Germans living in the UK who did their drivers license before 1999, and thus are allowed to drive trucks, should take on the jobs of the truck drivers. None of these plans worked, and so Johnson decided to use soldiers that had completed driving training for trucks. Even though that gave the British a hundred more truck drivers, there are still tens of thousands missing. Many people cannot buy enough food anymore, not even mentioning Christmas dinners. But the food shortage is not the only consequence of missing truck drivers.

Another consequence is the fuel shortage. Many videos have been posted, liked, and shared of people fighting at gas stations in Great Britain over who gets to get fuel for their car first. Long queues and traffic jams are also not an unusual sight anymore. Many people are already not able to drive to places like hospitals or schools, even if there are emergencies and quick action is needed. Tied with an economic crisis are rising electricity and heating costs, and this is not made any better by the fact that many houses have windows letting through air and coldness.

The UK is also leading meetings with France about fishing rules and with the EU about a special status for Northern Ireland. These have been more or less successful, but no agreements have been made. It was also announced that it has agreed on an economic deal with New Zealand, without customs for specific products and materials. Despite economic deals, for Britain, the most difficult time is still to come: a long, cold winter with little food, heating, or electricity.