Brexit and low wages to blame for UK truck driver shortage, Angela Merkel successor says

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The truck driver shortage hitting the UK is a consequence of Brexit and low wages, the man set to replace Angela Merkel as Germany's chancellor has said.

In a press conference on the morning of his election victory Olaf Scholz was asked by a British reporter about the chaos disrupting British supply chains.

“The free movement of labor is part of the European Union,” the SPD leader, the likely head of whatever government emerges from coalition talks, answered.

“We worked very hard to convince the British not to leave the union. Now they decided different and I hope they will manage the problems coming from that.”

Following up with some advice for the British government, Mr Scholz, a moderate whose social democrats narrowly became the largest party in Sunday's poll, said: “It might have something to do with the question of wages.

"If you understand that being a trucker is really something that many people like to be and you find not enough, this has something to do with working conditions and this is something that has to be thought about.”

A lack of drivers has compounded other Brexit issues and Covid effects and has led to empty shelves and missing products in some shops in the UK. The government over the weekend announced it would issue temporary three month visas for lorry drivers in a bid to fill gaps.

Mr Scholz is expected to seek a three way coalition, with options for a majority including a pact with the greens and pro-business liberals, or with the Christian Democrats and Greens.

Previous suggestions that Mr Scholz could lead a left wing coalition consisting of his party, the greens, and leftist outfit Die Linke appear to have faded as the three parties would not have a majority under the final result.

Minority governments are extremely rare in Germany, partly because to become chancellor a person must either have an absolute majority in the Bundestag, or a relative majority because a party has decided to proactively abstain.