ANGUS Robertson has said that Brexit is the "biggest single factor" in the UK's supply chain crisis.

Speaking on BBC Scotland's Debate Night, the Scottish Government's External Affairs Secretary highlighted that the UK Government was warned that leaving the European Union's single market and ending freedom of movement would lead to an "exodus" HGV drivers and EU nationals working in the NHS.

Saying that Covid has played a role right across Europe, Robertson added that the "contrast with the continent is marked" as issues the UK faces around petrol deliveries and supplying supermarkets are not felt to the same extent in EU nations.

Robertson, the SNP MSP for Edinburgh Central, said: "It is a complex issue, but the biggest single factor is Brexit.

"The UK Government, the Brexiteers, were warned about all of this again and again and again, that by leaving the single market, by ending freedom of movement that we were going to see an exodus of people who have lived and worked here over recent years working in our NHS, driving HGV lorries, performing public services in this country and they've now gone back to Poland and various other countries and as a result we are paying the price.

"Yes, Covid has played a role right across Europe and notwithstanding the fact that there are shortages of HGV drivers in continental Europe, they do not have the same problem in supplying their supermarkets, they are not having the same problems with petrol deliveries that we have been seeing in recent days.

​READ MORE: Michel Barnier says shortages in Britain are 'direct consequence' of Brexit

"The contrast with the continent is marked and it's a very simple reason the difference which is they are still in a single market, they still have freedom of movement and they do not have the labour shortages to the extent that we are having here.

"Brexit is a catastrophe, we didn't vote for it in Scotland and the sooner we can get back into the single European market and the European Union the better. There's one way to do it and you should have the choice about Scotland's future."

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has suggested that low-level offenders could be used to address the UK's lack of HGV drivers amid ongoing fuel shortages.

It comes as motorists say there is still not enough fuel despite The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA)’s latest survey of its members finding just over one-in-four had run dry, down from more than a third on Tuesday.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has announced soldiers could be drafted in to drive tankers in the next couple of days to help alleviate the problem.

Altogether 150 military drivers, together with 150 drivers’ mates, have been on standby since Monday to carry out deliveries to filling stations.

Raab (below), who was made Justice Secretary in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent ministerial reshuffle, has dismissed Labour’s call for 100,000 migrant visas to be issued to provide sufficient drivers.

The National:

The former foreign secretary said the move would leave the country reliant in the long term on labour coming from abroad, and instead suggested the gap could be filled in another way.

“We’ve been getting prisoners and offenders to do volunteering and unpaid work,” Raab told The Spectator.

“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.”

PRA executive director Gordon Balmer said forecourt staff were being subjected to a “high level” of physical and verbal abuse from frustrated motorists.

READ MORE: No sign of petrol panic buying ending despite appeal for calm, retailers warn

“There are encouraging signs that the crisis at the pumps is easing, with forecourts reporting that they are taking further deliveries of fuel,” he said in a statement.

“However, we are extremely disappointed to hear many forecourt staff are experiencing a high level of both verbal and physical abuse, which is completely unacceptable.”

His warning comes amid reports of fights breaking out on forecourts with, in one case, footage appearing on social media of a man wielding a knife, as tempers boiled over during long waits to fill up.

Figures from the Department for Transport have shown there is a backlog of more than 56,000 applications for vocational driving licences, including HGV and bus permits, waiting to be processed.

UK ministers have blamed the pandemic, which led to the cancellation last year of tens of thousands of tests.