He has accused the haulage industry of being too reliant on low-paid immigration, amid shortages at petrol stations.

The military is due to begin delivering petrol across the UK from Monday.

Two hundred military servicemen and women, 100 of them drivers, will provide “temporary” support to ease pressure on forecourts, reports BBC.

The government has also announced 5,000 temporary visas for foreign lorry drivers to plug a shortage of lorry drivers worsened by Covid, Brexit and other factors.