Bishop John Arnold of Salford is quoted as saying "that while there are a number of priests of retirement age still in ministry and others approaching retirement in his diocese, 'I do not think it is justified to claim that there is a 'shortage' of priests.'

He may be right in an interestingly twisted kind of way.  In a November 2015 article in the Catholic Herald, Arnold is quoted as proposing cutting # of parishes, going from 150 to 75 due to a Catholic population which has "dispersed and declined” and "because of the falling numbers of priests. "

The article says "there are 150 priests in active pastoral ministry in Salford (including nine not in parish ministry and 11 outside of the diocese)."  150-20=130 available for parish work.  But, 23 are already past retirement age.  So, Arnold was really dealing with the problem of 130-23=107  priests which should have been available in a 150 parish diocese.

He solved the problem:  fewer parishes.  Voila, there is not a priest shortage.