What happened to the great Brexit turkey shortage? – Spectator.co.uk

Fights breaking out at the checkout counters in Waitrose as angry shoppers battled for the few remaining stocks. Reports of black market birds changing hands for thousands in the posher parts of London. Twitter feeds cluttered with pictures of nut roasts, tofu crowns, and chestnut bakes taking pride of place on the Christmas table, as people desperately tried out the alternatives. You probably noticed the Great Turkey Shortage this year. Christmas went ahead more or less as normal, but of course Brexit meant there werent any turkeys available anywhere, just as the farmers had warned.

Only a couple of months ago, we were all being told that turkeys would inevitably be in short supply this year.'There is a likelihood there will be a shortage,' the British Poultry Council told MPs.

Such predictions were splashed across a credulous media. And, of course, it wasnt just turkeys: pigs in blankets were 'already under threat', we were informedbythe bigwigs at the National Pig Association.

Almost as seriously, the champagne was likely to run out as well, at least according to the Guardian. In fact, the only thing forecast to be in plentiful supply was brussels sprouts, on account of a pretty good growing season. Without wishing to disparage the sturdy sprout, if that was going to be the centrepiece of Christmas dinner it was likely to be a fairly meagre meal. The explanation? Our departure from the EU meant there were fewer workers for the farms, and border controls would make it impossible to import enough food and drink. Some hardcore Remainers were getting ready to point out, with their weariest sadly we told you so expressions, that outside the single market Christmasses would be very bleak from now on.

Except of course, none of it happened. For all the scare stories, there were lots of turkeys available in the shops, and as many pigs in blankets and bottles of champagne as you felt like buying. With the omicron variant of Covid-19 there were plenty of challenges over the festive season, but a shortage of traditional foods was, for most people, not among them. It turned out to be yet another ridiculous round of scare stories.

In fact, it was not hard to work out what was going on. Farmers and industrialised meat producers most of all, have allowed themselves to become too reliant on cheap imported labour. The industry has been lobbying intensively to be allowed to ship in as many agency workers on seasonal contracts, for minimum wage, as it needs; whipping up scare stories about shortages is the best argument it has. After all, complaining that profits might be hurt by having to offer better pay and conditions to attract staff doesnt sound quite so good.

But of course, although few people recognise it, a free market is very good at getting around obstacles. Sure, supply chains have to be re-configured sometimes, new suppliers in different countries have to be located, and prices have to be adjusted to make it happen. And yet making sure supply and demand roughly balance out is what a free market does best.

There are occasional shortages, such as the fuel crisis of the autumn, but they are usually caused by a surge of panic buying, and rarely last for very long. In reality, there was no shortage of turkeys this Christmas, nor anything else, and there wont be next Christmas either and all the media reports that played along with the scare stories have been left looking a bit bird-brained.

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What happened to the great Brexit turkey shortage? - Spectator.co.uk