Plan to head off Brexit border chaos

By Categories: NewsPublished On: Monday 1 May 2017

Incumbent Dover & Deal Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke has won industry and cross-border support for a plan to help Dover ports cope with the UK’s exit from the single European market.

Developed with ports, shipping and haulage businesses, the 50-page report – Ready on Day One – sets out a detailed blueprint to ensure order at the border.

Well-informed sources and industry bodies have warned of a potential disaster at UK ferry ports post-Brexit, as the infrastructure required to clear thousands of trucks through Customs every day does not exist.

Mr Elphicke’s ambitious five-point plan requires massive and speedy construction of new road links, including the completion of the new Thames Crossing (a £6 billion project announced last month, but as yet with no projected start date) and the upgrading and dualling of the M2/A2 all the way to the Channel Ports with the M20 Lorry Park (due to be partly open this Summer) to be delivered on time.

It also requires that new systems are developed allowing customs controls to be handled seamlessly, with long queues avoided and technology used to speed processing.

Mr Elphicke has called for aNew Entente Cordiale’ to extend the Le Touquet Treaty to cover customs co-operation between the UK and France, and build a new era of deeper co-operation with France.

He admits that the normal legislative processes are too slow to allow much of this to happen in the two-year lead to Brexit, and has therefore called for a  Brexit Infrastructure Bill: a “powerful new law to speed through administrative processes” to enable vital projects to be delivered on time.

He has also called for a single, all-powerful, ministry to be established to control border crossings, saying: “There is a mind boggling array of ministries, quangos and agencies with border responsibilities. There should be a single ministry where the buck stops. This will avoid muddle and confusion that would otherwise undermine our ability to be ready on day one…

“Gridlock at Dover will mean gridlock for the UK economy. Yet with proper planning we can not only be ready on day one – we can make Brexit a real success. That’s what this plan is about.

 “My priority is for a stronger UK and to make sure that Brexit is a success for Dover, Deal and our villages. Together we can build a new Britain that is a great, global trading nation.”

Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-Calais region, provided the foreword to the report and praised its approach. Road transport organisations, among others, have also supported Mr Elphicke’s initiative.

A Road Haulage Association spokesman said: “We welcome the report. It highlights the key issues that need to be addressed when trying to create a post-Brexit frictionless border that is essential for UK and European businesses.”

Alex Veitch, head of global policy at the Freight Transport Association, added: “The report is an important piece of work examining one of the most crucial issues for the success of Brexit.

“We fully agree with conclusions it reaches about what is needed to make trade through ports like Dover work come the day we leave the EU.”