“Britain is ‘now in for permanent shortages’ of popular food and drink items on the shelves, an industry chief declared today. Ian Wright, outgoing chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, warned supply issues that have hit supermarkets, Nando’s and McDonald’s are ‘going to get worse’ as the labour market changes permanently after Covid. Mr Wright emphasised ‘these shortages don’t mean you’re going to run out of food’. But he warned incidents like no bottled water being available in the whole of eastern England could become more common. He added: ‘The UK shopper could have previously expected just about every product they want to be on shelf or in the restaurant all the time. ‘That’s over and I don’t think it’s coming back.'”
“It comes as the UK prepares to slap post-Brexit checks on imports from the EU in two stages from October 1 and January 1. The government is reportedly set to delay these checks – a move Mr Wright claimed could be announced within hours. He said ministers might think: ‘If we start implementing these changes from the start of October, we might risk Christmas being cancelled for the second year running.’ Asked if Christmas will be cancelled, he told an event hosted by the Institute for Government: ‘No, but it’s going to be different'” – The Mirror.