Dowden admits only 20 fuel tanker drivers from overseas on UK roads

Responding to Conservative Party Chairman Oliver Dowden's comments this morning on HGV drivers, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: “It is staggering that just 20 fuel tanker drivers from abroad who applied to work here are now on UK roads.  “In the face of a national crisis and our ports going into gridlock, the response from Conservative ministers is too little too late. This incompetence will mean more empty shelves and more misery for British consumers in the run-up to Christmas. “The immigration system is broken, and it is hurting everyone. The government needs to end their arbitrary rules that shut out lorry drivers as ‘unskilled’ and take visa applications away from the Home Office to get them decided quickly and fairly.”