Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow EU drivers to return on temporary visas as skilled workers.

The UK Government is closely monitoring labour supply and working with sector leaders to promote jobs, training, and a range of other initiatives to get more people into HGV driving. Similar challenges are being faced by other countries around the world, with shortages of truck drivers being reported in the EU and the United States of America.Following the UK leaving the EU and ending free movement, our points-based immigration system looks at what skills and talent people have, rather than whether they hold an EU or Non-EU passport.

Like other sectors the focus for transport should be on training and recruiting from the UK based workforce in the first instance. Our Plan for Jobs is helping people across the country retrain, build new skills and get back into work. The Government encourages all sectors to make employment more attractive to UK domestic workers through offering training, careers options, wage increases and investment, plus dealing with the reasons behind the long term under representation of women in parts of the workforce. Immigration policy is not about providing an alternative to these necessary actions

The Government therefore has no plans to introduce a temporary visa scheme for heavy goods vehicle drivers.