The government has acknowledged that a special “working group” announced last autumn to tackle the supply chain crisis has only existed for days – and may never have convened.
Created the day before Boris Johnson began a major reshuffle, the intergovernmental group tasked with “fixing” supply problems was placed under the supervision of Michael Gove.
Reports at the time claimed that Mr Johnson had joked with Mr Gove – then Cabinet Minister – that he “did not want to cancel Christmas again” as the National Working Group on Economic Recovery (Logistics) had been set up. .
But in response to a parliamentary question from Labor’s deputy leader Angela Raynor in March this year, Michael Ellis, the current cabinet minister, was forced to admit that the working group announced on September 14, 2021, no longer exists.
“When the commission structures of the Prime Minister’s Office were renewed, gov.uk was updated in October 2021 and this no longer included the National Economic Working Group (Logistics),” he said.
The minister insisted that logistics and supply chains remain a “priority” for the government, adding that they are “discussed regularly by ministers in a number of forums”.
The cabinet later said work was continuing to improve the resilience of supply chains, but now through a committee focused on internal issues.
Answering a separate question, Mr. Ellis declined to comment on whether the logistics working group had met “at least once” before being removed from the list of cabinet committees.
“It has long been a precedent that information about the discussions that took place in the cabinet and its commissions and how often they met is not shared publicly,” he said.
Ms Raynor told The Independent that this was proof that the government was “unprepared for the problems facing our country, which will only worsen the cost of living crisis.”
“They are swinging from crisis to crisis,” she said. “Instead of serious solutions, all they have are tricks and fake messages to grab cheap headlines without a real plan to solve the problem. The consequences are clear – chaos when traveling and spiraling prices for ordinary people.
“They are now caught setting up a fake task force to hide the fact that they do not have a plan to protect supply chains and alleviate the disruption of the journey that the British are experiencing.
But a government spokesman said: “These allegations are untrue. Logistics and supply chains are a priority for the government and are regularly discussed by ministers in a number of forums. “We are committed to supporting people with the cost of living and have already provided over £ 22 billion in aid in 2022-2023.
Andy Prendergast, national secretary of the GMB union, said: “The logistics crisis has had serious consequences for the economy – but the government is only receiving word of mouth.
“You would think that once you see the audience tormented by empty shelves and chaos in transportation, the working group will take serious steps to address the problems.
He added: “As usual, it’s all talk and no action by a government that is unable to deal with the problems affecting households across our country.
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