Signals a winter of discontent is coming

British ministers fear a winter of discontent – and with good reason.

A chill wind beckons, with fuel shortages and runaway inflation added to a list of woes that already included empty supermarket shelves, spiralling energy bills, a tax rise in the spring and an extraordinarily badly timed cut to Universal Credit for the poorest families.

Economists predicted a hike in interest rates, and with it the prospect of higher mortgage repayments.

Yesterday, senior ministers, speaking on condition of anonymity, warned of the ‘‘collision of a winter of discontent’’’.

Paul Scully, the minister in charge of small businesses, admitted the Government was ‘‘preparing for the worst’’ as firms face the triple whammy of soaring fuel bills, wage inflation and a rise in National Insurance payments.

The economy – and life in general – is about to get very ugly.

BP began closing petrol forecourts yesterday after being hit by fuel shortages caused by a lack of lorry drivers. Esso said a ‘‘small number’’ of forecourts it operated for Tesco were also affected by driver shortages.

Downing Street responded by urging motorists to buy fuel ‘‘as normal’’, fearful of a panic buying spree that would threaten supply and raise the spectre of queues at petrol stations.

Also yesterday, the Bank of

England issued a warning of a jump in inflation to more than four per cent in time for Christmas – and with it the prospect of a rise in interest rates.

The bank said the cost of living was being ratcheted up by a combination of surging gas prices, shortages of key goods such as semiconductors and a lack of lorry drivers.

Much of the turmoil is global, on the back of a recovery from the pandemic that has seen economies, effectively mothballed, reopening and causing ructions in supply and demand.

Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England’s Governor, listed shipping problems as a key factor pushing up inflation, while a lack of semiconductors is hitting the supply of consumer goods, including electronics and cars. He noted that second-hand car prices were up more than 18 per cent in August compared with the same month last year.

Just when ministers thought they had solved the problem of a lack of CO2 threatening the food chain, along came the food and drink industry with a dire warning of its own.

Minette Batters, the president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), wrote to Johnson warning him that the food and farming sector remains on a ‘‘knife edge’’.

This time, a continued shortage of workers, rather than gas to preserve the food, threatens to hit supplies to supermarket shelves in the run-up to Christmas.

Panic buying was likely, the union warned.