RETAILERS have warned that crisis talks with France must produce an agreement to reopen its border with Britain today, otherwise this country will face severe disruption to food supplies.

More than 1,500 lorries are backed up in Kent, unable to cross the Channel, with drivers having spent a second night sleeping in their cabs after the French imposed the measure to keep out a new mutant variant of coronavirus that is now rife in Britain. 

More than 40 countries have also banned flights from British airports.

A plan to reopen the border is expected to take effect from today, the BBC reported, citing French Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune.

British Retail Consortium director of food and sustainability Andrew Opie said that the “borders really need to be running pretty much freely from tomorrow to assure us that there won’t be any disruption.”

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “As long as it can be cleared today, there’ll be minimal impact for consumers. Remember, the shops are shut on Christmas Day, which takes one day of buying out of the equation, but those lorries that are stuck in Kent, they do need to get back within the next day.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel said that ministers were “speaking constantly” with the French government to get freight moving again “in both our interests.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday evening that the two countries are working “to unblock the flow of trade as fast as possible.”