Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has suggested offenders who have been given community sentences could be used to plug the UK’s HGV driver gap amid continuing concerns about fuel shortages (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Dominic Raab has suggested that low-level criminals could be enlisted to deal with the HGV lorry shortage and its gone down about as well as you’d expect.
The justice secretary has piped up as panic buying at petrol station forecourts continues amid concerns that temporary visas for migrant workers and enlisting the actual army won’t prove sufficient in curbing the issues.
“We’ve been getting prisoners and offenders to do volunteering and unpaid work,” Raab told The Spectator, in comments carried by The Times.
“Why not, if there are shortages, encourage them to do paid work where there’s a benefit for the economy, benefit for society?
“If you give people skin in the game, give them something to lose, if you give them some hope, they’re much less likely to re-offend.”
It comes as people continue to stock up on petrol after the supply-chain was affected by a shortfall in drivers – due in part to a backlog of tests that built up during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as those leaving the UK due to Brexit.
Ministers said they expected the situation to improve further, with the first troops driving tankers expected to appear on the roads “in the next couple of days”.
Raab, who has been praised by some for the suggestion, is not the only politician to think out of the box when addressing this problem. Earlier in the summer, Andrew Bridgen blamed the lorry driver shortage on Tony Blair encouraging people to go to university (?!) and John Redwood also over-simplified the crisis to the derision of many.
Politicians say funny things, people post funny memes about those funny things and that – in many ways – is the circle of life. So here’s a taste of that delightful reaction to Raab’s latest comments:
“we could get offenders to drive HGVs” https://t.co/sAyMOTonBY pic.twitter.com/9hDucTzcoh
— Sean Lindley (@seanjlindley) September 30, 2021
Dominic Raab has proposed criminals who have been given community sentences be used to address UK’s lack of HGV drivers amid concerns about fuel shortages
— The British Pro European Political Blog (@UKEuro_Blog) September 30, 2021
No doubt the Brexiters will label this initiative as a ‘Brexit benefit’, the rehabilitation of convicted criminals#FBPE pic.twitter.com/5crQ0J0TYH
Mad Max, to Dominic Raab: "You want somebody to drive that tanker? Talk to me." pic.twitter.com/rrb32g3KGP
— Martyn Conterio (@martynconterio) September 30, 2021
"New Justice Secretary Dominic Raab wants firms who are short of workers to hire PRISONERS let out of jail for the day to plug the gaps" pic.twitter.com/nSpS9QE3Ma
— bÖsch (@fabmass) September 30, 2021
Three boys sitting on each other's shoulders while draped with a big coat can deliver petrol while fuel crisis rages on, says Dominic Raab https://t.co/3RbHOFJbQj
— Duncan (@duncanm) September 30, 2021
Dominic Raab could consider a move to the London Palladium https://t.co/s0H16qnxpN
— Martyn Hobbins 🕷️ 3.5% #FBPE #FBPA (@MartynHobbins) September 30, 2021
Dominic Raab's found the perfect lads to deliver fuel to Britain's petrol stations. pic.twitter.com/TWQvZ7tp3u
— Martyn Conterio (@martynconterio) September 30, 2021
And then their Justice guy Dominic Raab is getting offenders to drive the petrol around! pic.twitter.com/IHW1WQjhf6
— Lady Hecate Havisham (@fornagainst) September 30, 2021
Though some people thought it wasn’t a bad idea:
Why not allow prisoners a chance to redeem themselves? Seems a great idea to me
— Gregg (@Greggsm01483431) September 30, 2021
Seems sensible.
— Nick Knowles (@nickknowles) September 30, 2021
Put aside the rather unpleasant way in which Raab discusses human beings as instruments to a government-caused problem, and the back-of-a-rizla vibe to his understanding of criminal sentencing, and there’s actually a kernel of a good idea here. https://t.co/p8ftUeIlu3
— The Secret Barrister (@BarristerSecret) September 30, 2021
Oh, Raab. We just hope he doesn’t hire anyone arrested for drink driving.
