Food shortage pinched Brits more than EU residents

Supply chain crisis-induced food shortage has pinched Britons much more than their EU and US counterparts, suggests a recent survey.

According to a new YouGov poll, UK residents were multiple times more likely to have experienced, or know people who have experienced, food shortages compared to people in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Denmark. 

Asked in early December whether they had personally experienced any scarcity of foodstuffs in recent weeks, 56 per cent of respondents in the UK said yes, while 9 per cent said they had not personally experienced any but knew people who had.

The corresponding figures in EU were between three and nine times lower- 18 per cent in Germany, 16 per cent in France, 12 per cent in Sweden, 8 per cent in Denmark, 7 per cent and 6 per cent in Italy.

About 58 per cent of respondents said they were not even aware that supply chain problems had led to food shortages as compared to just 11 per cent of Britons who claimed the same.

The UK was also the only country where substantial numbers of people said they had experienced fuel shortages in recent weeks, since the crisis in September and October. One in three Britons (33 per cent) said they had personally experienced a recent scarcity of fuel, compared with no more than 10 per cent in any other country.

The news comes as farmers have criticised the government for failing to listen to their warnings, after it was announced the number of seasonal worker visas would not increase next year.