Published 11:57 IST, December 22nd 2020
UK working 'as fast as possible' to resolve border shutdown with France: PM Johnson
According to PM Johnson, the ban on trucks on the UK freight crossing to France was set to last for 48 hours, which will impact 20 percent of supplies.
After chairing a meeting of the Government’s emergency COBR committee, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron about a truck halt due to border closure at the UK port of Dover. “We are working with our friends [France] across the Channel to unblock the flow of trade as fast as possible,” Johnson said at a live-streamed address at Downing Street. France had earlier scrambled to shut the border to the UK, stopping the British lorries, ferries, and hauliers to contain a new variant of coronavirus. This caused widespread chaos at the Dover border as the shipment of food, medicines, and other supplies to Britain was stranded.
According to British PM, the ban on trucks on the UK’s freight crossing to France was set to last for 48 hours, which will impact 20 percent of the total haulier arriving from or departing to European countries. Meanwhile, Johnson told the House of Commons that his administration had activated ‘Operation Stack’ post consultation with Kent Resilience Forum, Kent County Council, and Highways England, diverting the UK lorries waiting on the M20 to Manston Airfield. Further in his statement, the British prime minister said, “I have just spoken to President Macron - we had a very good call - we both understand each other’s positions and want to resolve these problems as fast as possible.” He added that France and the UK were working to find a solution, “as I say, as fast as we can.” The UK “fully understands the anxieties of our friends,” Johnson stressed.
48 countries suspend travel
As many as 48 countries including— India, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Jordan and Hong Kong, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, Israel and Canada, and others suspended travel with the UK. The governments worldwide abruptly discontinued UK flights after a new variant of the coronavirus, 70 per cent more transmissible, and with doubling period of 7 days was detected spreading across England and London.
According to British and European broadcasters conducting an analysis of the situation on the ground, the Channel port where thousands of UK trucks passed on a daily basis had now installed signposts asking the drivers to “go home” as France border had been shut to the UK. Furthermore, France's FNTR national road haulage federation reportedly told EU media outlets that no truck drivers were willing to enter the UK to deliver freight supply.
Updated 11:55 IST, December 22nd 2020