Tory Lord claims they've been using 'post Brexit freedoms' to help ease travel chaos

A Conservative Lord has claimed "post Brexit freedoms" are helping ease travel chaos.

Britain has been hit with a huge amount of travel chaos in the last few days with the current school holidays being the first since Covid restrictions were fully eased in the UK and many EU countries. Easyjet, for instance, cancelled 240 flights over the weekend and is cancelling more still today.

Trade unions have warned that "chaos" could last the entire summer and Labour said the government did not work with airlines to get a "sector-specific package" in place during the pandemic.

But speaking about the issue to Sky News' Kay Burley, arts minister Lord Parkinson said the transport department had been working with the industry to make sure there is "enough staff" to help people travel again having received coronavirus vaccines and blamed the industry for not preparing.

"We've been using some of our post Brexit freedoms to make sure that people can be hired more quickly," he added.

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His view were not shared by Andy Prendergast, national secretary for the GMB union, who told Sky News: "Airport workers need training, and they need security clearance. They cannot be recruited overnight.

"With better wages and better use of furlough, the industry would not be struggling for staff. But cutting skilled workers jobs - a practice we saw repeatedly across the sector during Covid - who cannot be replaced overnight was short-sighted.

"To solve the problem airports and operators need to offer fair wages and plan for peaks in demand."

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