Travel to France will resume for EU nationals with negative Covid tests

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “I think we will end up with worse problems with Covid if we don’t get these people moving.” By the end of the French blockade on Tuesday night, Mr Buchanan estimated that a backlog of 6,000 to 7,000 trucks would have built up, many of them parked up elsewhere in the country waiting for the situation in Kent to become clear. “We’re not going to starve, the sun is going to come up, it’s not that bad, but we are in a very serious situation and it is going to be incredibly disruptive.” Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, assured MPs that “everybody’s Christmas dinner is safe”, but warned of potential shortages of fresh vegetables and fruit after 25 December if the borders are not "running pretty much freely" by Wednesday. When we see Hungarian drivers coming in we say stop, and the drivers take things in to the other side to give to everybody.” The government and Kent Resilience Forums said in a joint statement: “Food, toilets and water are available for hauliers along the M20 and at Manston, with more food trucks expected to arrive at Manston shortly.” With millions of pounds worth of perishable products like Scottish seafood believed to have been rendered unsellable by the delays, Food and Drink Federation chief executive Ian Wright said companies impacted by the gridlock should be compensated. “We’ll be pressing them very hard to look at a compensation scheme.” In a statement issued to all EU member states on Tuesday afternoon, the European Commission said that while "all non-essential travel to and from the UK should be discouraged" to limit the spread of the new variant, other "essential travel and transit of passengers should be facilitated".