Mass culls of pigs at farms because of a lack of abattoir workers are part of a necessary transition for Britain to emerge from a broken economic model based on low wages, Boris Johnson has argued.
His comments, on the first day of the Conservative conference, came as Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, insisted it was the role of business, not ministers, to sort out such problems.
Asked about warnings of the imminent slaughter and incineration of up to 120,000 pigs amid broad labour shortages across the UK, Johnson initially argued that this was no different to what normally happened to livestock 1.
Speaking to BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said (I assume, in a patronising tone):
“I hate to break it to you, Andrew, but I’m afraid our food processing industry does involve killing a lot of animals, that is the reality. Your viewers need to understand that. That’s just what happens.”
When Marr pointed out that it would be different, as in this instance the pigs would not be butchered for food and the farmers would receive no income, Johnson said this was part of a wider transformation of the economy post-Brexit.
“If I may say so, the great hecatomb (Ooh … clever …
) of pigs that you describe has not yet actually taken place, let’s see what happens,” he said.
1 Well he would, wouldn’t he …
Maybe we could use these pigs to make our own bacon instead of buying that watery Danish stuff?
I mean, if we can get lorry drivers to bring that from Denmark I’m pretty sure that instead we could shift a few of our own pigs?
I think the figure here is 130,000+ and the problem is there are not the people in abattoirs or butchers to make your bacon etc.
I thought that Boris’ comments, about pigs being slaughtered, might have just been a metaphor for something closer to home!
“A period of adjustment after Brexit”?
Obviously a graduate from the University of the Bleeding Obvious
Indeed they did, in detail, in a letter:
23rd June 2021
Dear Prime Minister,
Critical supply chains failing due to the significant shortage of HGV drivers
We are urgently writing to ask for your personal intervention to help resolve the significant and rapidly deteriorating shortage of HGV drivers.
Prior to the pandemic, we estimated a shortage in excess of 60,000. At that time UK road transport businesses employed approximately 600,000 HGV drivers, including 60,000 from EU member states who were residing and working in the UK.
Several factors have exacerbated the shortage which is now at crisis point (over 100,000) and critical supply chains are failing. Those factors include:
COVID - Many drivers returned to their country of origin during extended periods of lockdown and restricted travel. The vast majority have not yet returned.
EU exit - The uncertainty of Brexit and future rights to live and work in the UK forced many drivers to do the same. Again, the vast majority have not returned nor are they expected to.
Retiring drivers - The average age of an HGV driver is 55, with less than 1% under the age of 25. Prolonged periods of inactivity have resulted in much of this aging workforce retiring early or finding employment in other, less demanding, sectors.
Test shortage - During a typical year, 72,000 candidates train to become HGV drivers with 40,000 succeeding. The complete shutdown of vocational driving tests throughout much of last year resulted in the loss of over 30,000 test slots and only 15,000 were able to complete training successfully - a drop of 25,000 from the previous year.
IR35 - The introduction of IR35 has resulted in agency labour withdrawing their services as low-profit margin logistics businesses (typically 2-3%) cannot sustain demands for £5-£6 per hour rate increases. For clarity, we welcome legislation that ensures fair and equal tax for all. However, Government must now recognise the repercussions of this and the other issues mentioned and urgently intervene to help us to resolve the resulting crisis.
We are grateful to Ministers from the Departments for Transport, and Work and Pensions, who have met with us to discuss solutions, but it is clear, despite best intentions, that there is no immediate plan. We firmly believe that intervention from the Prime Minister / Cabinet Office is the only way that we will be able to avert critical supply chains failing at an unprecedented and unimaginable level. Supermarkets are already reporting that they are not receiving their expected food stocks and, as a result, there is considerable wastage.
To make the situation even worse, summer holidays are fast approaching, and drivers will take their leave entitlement. The lack of agency drivers to help support their absence will exacerbate the problem even further as will continued unlocking of the economy and the spikes in demand for food and drink created by the hot weather and major sporting events. Furthermore, the Christmas build that retailers begin in August / September will be seriously affected – all of which will affect Government’s ability to “build back better”.
We are asking for your direct support as follows:
- We need an immediate solution to this problem - we are not going to solve this now by training drivers and as such need access to EU and EEA labour. We ask for the introduction of a temporary worker visa for HGV drivers and for this occupation to be added to the Home Office Shortage Occupation List.
This will allow UK-registered transport operators to access a workforce that can live and work in the UK more easily and encourage those who have left to return - even if this is short-term measure whilst we concentrate on a longer-term plan. DEFRA already have arrangements in place that support our harvest periods when foreign labour restrictions are eased for specific demand. The same principles should be applied.
Government needs to work with the industry to help address the broader issues around the skills shortage. We must work collectively to achieve a sustainable way of recruiting and training a homegrown workforce so that our reliance on foreign labour dissipates over time. We ask that a taskforce is immediately established to include representation from all of the relevant areas of Government and industry to help drive this change at the pace that is so desperately needed.
The DEFRA Food Resilience Industry Forum, chaired by Chris Tyas, helped to ensure the nation’s supply integrity throughout the pandemic. This was recently disbanded. However, in view of the growing crisis, it must be re-established at the earliest opportunity.
It is our collective view that there has never been a more challenging time for this industry and we urge you to take these decisive steps to ensure that we can continue to maintain the UK’s integrated and finely balanced supply chains.
BJ, of course, put it in his pending (procrastination) tray …
He forgot to mention that higher wages will lead to a higher cost of living. Cheap labour is what has kept our food etc at such a competitive price.
There was an FT article this weekend confirming that most of our Christmas turkeys will be from France & Poland because of this mess. Pity Marr didn’t ask the PM about that.
Perhaps there wasn’t time to cover the full extent of BJ’s economic shambles … 
BJ, of course, will be spending Xmas at Chequers - I don’t think the cost or availability of turkeys will be a problem there …
IMHO it looks more like talk of pigs has turned to talk of bull with a more than a hint of added eau de rat.
It’s almost as if there’s some sort of conspiracy with supposed threatened profits in the offing for disgruntled major producers of certain things and even a desire by these same major producers to carry on importing cheaper labour, but I’m sure that our major money-grabbers businesses wouldn’t really dream of doing such thing.
And, ultimately, raging inflation.
Agreed, but it has also left us with a lack of suitably trained Brits because a) we aren’t prepared to work for peanuts, b) company owners weren’t (still aren’t) prepared to pay for training, c) East Europeans have decided to stay in Europe because the pay is better.
Personally, I couldn’t give a damn because I don’t eat turkey, I find it very dry and virtually tasteless.
Agreed. Like said just above, it’s time our businesses started paying decent wages and for proper training.
Wages are just currency.
We just watch the value of the pound float to a different level and all those who thought they were higher paid realise that they are back where they started.
i.e. if wages go up 10%, and prices in the shops go up to match that, what have you got?
Sadly some don’t get the increase!
It’s a win win in terms of low food/product costs. For example we outsource to China and other countries because people simply do not want to buy products at higher prices. Ultimately it’s all like a pyramid scheme because eventually you end up with an economy that has zero real value. But a whole generation can have a good life in the meantime before the inevitable zombie apocalypse.
East Europeans that left have done so because of Brexit conditions rather than pay. Those that can have settled or pre settled status. They came here and stayed because they loved the UK. I’m none too sure what people had against them being here. Hard workers and mostly not troublesome.
yes there is just one pie. Labour and training are input costs for goods and services. If they increase then the prices of goods increase. If people then don’t buy those goods because they are too expensive then businesses will fold. I am not sure how businesses keep going in the current environment. Many were kept afloat by furlow. But what now?
That isn’t what happens though is it? Wage increases are tied to productivity or at least they are in this country.
For example the local steel works in 1980 employed 23000 people to produce a given amount of steel, that same steel works now employs 4000 people to produce many times as much steel. Those workers earn extremely high award wages.
One thing I could not not understand in the UK was the pricing system, food in the supermarket was cheaper than here yet food in a restaurant was far more expensive. This even applied to fast food - I was paying twice as much for a burger at Maccas in the UK as in Australia. Even more puzzling was the fact that our wages are far higher too
It was noticeable that most wait staff were Eastern European and presumably on low wages yet the meals ridiculously expensive
There is far more to this that just wages.
Yes, Immigration is an interesting factor.
Always has been, in my memory, as the Employers love it and the public, well, not very much.
I don’t remember a trade union chasing the Government over immigration.
Surprising, really? Even as the Europeans were taking so many of the lower paid roles, (driving, etc.?) where were the Unions?
Yes, but the low wages were supposed to be compensated for by the tips.
On top of the already expensive meal?
Its all gobbledegook
Its all gobbledegook, just disregard it. 
On top of any price meal.