We’ve all seen the pictures from the weekend of the motorists queuing at petrol stations across the country to fill up on fuel.
Some, though, have been disappointed when entering the forecourt after supplies ran dry at several garages.
And now a Government minister has spoken out - blaming the lack of fuel on people who have been filling up unnecessarily.
The Environment Secretary, George Eustice, told the BBC : “The only reason we don't have petrol in forecourts is because people are buying petrol when they don't need it.”
Downing Street, meanwhile, told the corporation it wanted to “reassure people that stocks are secure”.
So, who is George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, who has made these remarks? Let’s give you the lowdown on who this senior politician is.
Who is George Eustice, the Environment Secretary?
George Eustice was born and raised in Cornwall, and is part of a farming family from the Camborne and Redruth area.
Together, they run a shop, restaurant and fruit farm in the county and use it for educational purposes, teaching around 3,000 schoolchildren a year.
Eustice decided to refocus his work from the farm, though, in the late 20th century and instead invest his time on politics.
He served as campaign director on the anti-euro No Campaign from 1999 to 2003, before becoming the Conservative Party’s press boss under the leadership of Michael Howard.
In 2005, he became former Prime Minister David Cameron’s Press Secretary. That was a role he remained in until 2007.
It was three years later when Eustice would become an MP for the area he grew up and lived in, entering Parliament for the first time in 2010.
He kept the seat at the 2015 General Election, later becoming a Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
At the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, Eustice voted to cut ties with the political and economic bloc.
His website says he did so as he “wants to see Ministers and their Civil Servants have the freedom to start thinking policy ideas through from first principles”.
In 2020, he received a promotion by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, moving from Minister of State at DEFRA to Secretary of State at DEFRA, also known as the Environment Secretary.
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