One in six Britons unable to buy essential food items, survey finds
Around one in six Britons have been unable to buy essential food items in the last two weeks due to a shortage of products and a supply chain crisis, statistics show.
According to the results of a survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), released on Friday, about 17 percent of people in the United Kingdom have been unable to purchase essential goods while almost a quarter of them have not been able to purchase even non-essential food products.
The ONS analyzed responses from 3,326 adults between September 22 and October 3 as part of its Opinions and Lifestyle survey.
Only 57 percent of the participants said everything they needed had been available to buy, while 14 percent were forced to visit more shops to purchase necessities.
Six in 10 respondents reported that their food shopping experience had been different than usual and one in seven (15 percent) said they had not been able to buy fuel.
The lack of items also involved medicine, with 13 percent of adults reporting longer delays in getting their prescriptions filled or having to go to more pharmacies to find what they needed.
The figures come amid an unprecedented shortage of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers, which has disrupted the delivery of products to supermarkets, leaving the shelves empty and triggering panic buying by shoppers.
Meanwhile, schools have reportedly been told to stockpile tinned food in anticipation of shortages, while food banks are struggling to secure enough food items to hand out to needy people.
Government ministers have been at pains to admit that the problem has been caused in part by Brexit.
Speaking to Times Radio earlier last week, Labour’s shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said the crisis “is to do with the government’s complete and utter incompetence. It is to do with the government’s handling of Brexit and it is to do with the government’s failure to plan over recent months. The blame lies squarely with them, it lies with no one else.”
Britons also face the biggest squeeze on their finances in more than a decade because of inflation, rising prices, and looming multiple tax increases.
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