Posted on 04/19/2022 11:01:51 AM PDT by EBH
Labour has accused the UK government of establishing a “fake taskforce” to address supply chain disruption because it was dissolved weeks after it was announced.
The National Economic Recovery Taskforce (Logistics) was announced on 14 September 2021 when supply disruption was peaking due to factors including a lorry driver shortage, but did not survive beyond a reshuffle on 21 October. Michael Gove had been appointed to head the cross-government committee.
Labour Party deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Instead of serious solutions, all they’ve got is gimmicks and fake announcements to grab cheap headlines, with no real plan to solve the problem. The consequences are clear – travel chaos and spiralling prices for ordinary people.
“Now they’ve been caught creating a fake taskforce to hide the fact that they don’t have a plan to protect supply chains and ease the travel disruption Brits are experiencing.”
The ending of the taskforce emerged when Rayner asked a question in the House of Commons and Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis responded on 14 March: “The National Economic Recovery Taskforce (Logistics) Cabinet Committee was announced on 14 September 2021. When the prime minister’s cabinet committee structures were refreshed, gov.uk was updated in October 2021 and this no longer included the National Economic Recovery Taskforce (Logistics).
“Logistics and supply chains remain a priority for the government and are discussed regularly by ministers in a range of forums.”
A Cabinet Office spokesperson clarified to Supply Management that the taskforce was dissolved in a reshuffle on 21 October but its work was absorbed into another committee.
Rayner asked another question in the Commons and on 23 March Ellis refused to confirm whether the taskforce ever met before it was dissolved, saying cabinet and committee discussions are “not normally shared publicly”.
Rayner accused the government of “lurching from crisis to crisis”.
A Labour spokesperson told SM the “secret disbandment” of the taskforce was an “embarrassing admission” for the government.
A government spokesperson denied Labour's claims, and insisted a “range of forums” were being used to discuss supply chain matters.
They told SM: “These claims are incorrect. Logistics and supply chains are a priority for the government, and are discussed regularly by ministers in a range of forums. We are committed to supporting people with the pressures of the cost of living and we have already provided over £22 billion of help in 2022-23.”
A separate body set up by the government in October 2021 to address supply chain problems – the Supply Chain Advisory Group – attracted comment after it emerged its co-chair and former Tesco boss Sir David Lewis held no meetings with roads minister Baroness Charlotte Vere.
ping
No.
“Are you still trusting what the government is telling you about the supply chain?”
I think that was the purpose of repairing the screwup of creating some investigative group to tell us what is causing it. If they had allowed the committee to actually tell the truth about what is causing it, a bunch of people would be identified as liars and thieves. It has nothing to do with product movement. It has to do with hamstringing the public. And they are using unions to do it at the ports. Additionally, they are supporting Chinese product prices and their US control over US sales and services. At which time the Queen song “Another One Bites the Dust” is added to the background for the November culling list.
wy69
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