Sir Keir Starmer has called on the government to give health and care workers priority at the petrol pumps as fuel shortages continued across the UK.
The call came after Labour warned that people could die if doctors and nurses were delayed by queues.
And the Queen’s Nursing Institute wrote to the prime minister warning that patients were at risk.
“Patient visits are being cancelled and patients are at risk of being left without the care they need, at the time they need it,” said the QNI letter. “This is unacceptable.”
Calling for health and care staff to be prioritised for fuel, chief executive Crystal Oldman added: “Without the necessary actions, we believe the pressure on hospital services will inevitably increase, as health and care services for patients at home will be compromised.”
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Petrol retailers today said that pressure on supplies were easing, but said more than a third of forecourts (37 per cent) reported being out of fuel on Tuesday.
Speaking at Labour’s conference in Brighton, Sir Keir called on Boris Johnson to take immediate action to give priority to key workers, as well as to extend the temporary visa offer to attract more overseas lorry drivers.
The Labour leader held a conference call with representatives of the haulage industry today and said they were “beyond frustrated” at the government’s failure to come up with a plan to resolve the emergency, now in its sixth day.
“The government has reduced the country to chaos as we track from crisis to crisis and the government is not gripping this,” Starmer told the BBC.
“I spoke to the haulage sector this morning to the businesses that are absolutely in the middle of this, and they are beyond frustrated – and these are their words.
“They said it’s a government that is denying there’s a problem, then blaming somebody else, and then coming up with a half-baked plan.”
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Sir Keir said that visas for foreign HGV drivers should be extended from three to six months to make them more attractive.
“The prime minister should take that action today – prioritise key workers and start issuing enough visas and for long enough,” he said.
“This problem was predictable and predicted and the government has absolutely failed to plan.”
Speaking to Sky News, Sir Keir said: “What is the sole cause of this problem? The government has known for some time that there are consequences of us leaving the EU, one of which is lorry drivers.”
But he insisted he was not saying that Brexit was to blame for the crisis.
“I wouldn't say that Brexit is to blame,” he told Channel 5 News. “What I would say is that it was inevitable as we exited the EU that we needed a plan to deal with drivers. That is obvious whether you voted Remain or voted Leave, and we took that decision years ago.”
One home care service today said queues at petrol stations were forcing carers to push back calls to vulnerable elderly people and to work long after their shifts to ensure clients are seen.
Shaleeza Hasham of CHD Care at Home backed calls for prioritisation for key workers, saying the impact of the fuel shortage on carers and been “enormous”.
“Many of our carers are unable to get enough fuel to make their rounds as most petrol stations are limiting them to ￡30. Carers can do up to 100 miles per day so these restrictions mean that they are having to fuel up more often as they cannot fill their tanks,“ she said. “We look after extremely vulnerable individuals, some of whom cannot even get out of bed without support or assistance, and the situation is proving extremely difficult and stressful. Being unable to get to clients who depend on us just isn’t an option.”
Homecare Association CEO Jane Townson said she had been appealing for assistance from the Department for Health since Friday, but had been told only that the situation was being considered.
“It seems the government has decided there isn’t an issue and that means local resilience fora can’t invoke their emergency plans,” Ms Townson said.
“We want essential workers, including home care workers, to have access to fuel. We need that now. We need the government to acknowledge that there are risks to the health and well-being of older and disabled people.”
Asked if health and care workers should be given priority access to fuel, Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “Yes. We are facing a crisis, because if doctors and nurses and midwives and care assistants can’t get to the bedsides of their patients, then people will be left stranded, people will be left in the most desperate of circumstances, some people could end up losing their lives.”
Mr Ashworth called on health secretary Sajid Javid to call an immediate meeting with health and care unions and professional bodies to reach agreement on a system to ensure key workers can access fuel during the current emergency.
“We need urgency and we need grip,” he said. “We haven’t had that so far. ”
The public sector union Unison has called for designated petrol stations to be set aside for key workers only.
And the East of England Co-op has said that if problems persist until Thursday, it will operate a key worker-only policy between 6-7am in order to ensure they are able to fill their tanks.
Gordon Balmer, executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association, which represents independent forecourts across the UK, said: “There are early signs that the crisis at pumps is ending, with more of our members reporting that they are now taking further deliveries of fuel.
“Fuel stocks remain normal at refineries and terminals, although deliveries have been reduced due to the shortage of HGV drivers.
“We have conducted a survey of our members this morning and only 37 per cent of forecourts have reported being out of fuel today. With regular restocks taking place, this percentage is likely to improve further over the next 24 hours”.