In Kent, between blocked trains and trucks, Boris rehearses Hard Brexit

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«Fog in the Channel, the continent is isolated“He fished with both hands with snobbery and humor, typically Anglo-Saxon features, a title of Times in the 30s irreverent towards Europe. Almost a century later, the fog has disappeared from the British climate, due to global warming; in its place, however, is Covid and the continent is even more isolated. There Britain today it has returned to what it has always been for at least two thousand years: an island, separate and unreachable from Europe. And the Times headline still works. Actually, on the morning of December 21, a few days before the most harrowing Christmas in history between Brexi And viruses, a drizzle hung over Ashford, 20 kilometers from the coast of Dover. The train station, disproportionate to a small provincial town in Kent, has the pompous name of Ashford International because here heEurostar London-Paris. When was heEurotunnel, Ashford was rewarded with a stop at the Tav, a super modern station (and a great exit next door): the classic cathedral in the desert. The only pendulums that circulate, almost completely empty, end their career here; or a little later, a Margate, on the coast. We do not go any further: Europe is off limits.

Deserted road

The Nepalese taxi driver says that on Friday night freight traffic to France was still full of vehicles. As you walk up the flyover that crosses the M20, the motorway that connects London with Dover, a ghostly landscape appears: there is no traffic, they all disappeared. The reason is discovered a little later: the entrance ramps are closed, policemen on motorcycles block everyone who tries to enter. On Sunday night, after France’s shocking announcement to close the ports, the government issued a recommendation to “trucks”, cargo vehicles, not to approach the Channel maritime ports. And turned off the M20: the police only admit the load, freight rates, but as long as they are going to queue along the coast. Waiting for the ferries to depart.

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Brexit rehearsals in the dark

In Kent, dress rehearsals for Hard Brexit: the country is testing what to expect if it leaves without an agreement. And the taste is far from being comparable to delicious. Christmas pudding that English families put on the table at Christmas. With Brexit, forgettable Ashford has become the focus of the country: here, in the immediate hinterland of the ports of Dover me Folkestone, the government has decided to build a gigantic cargo village for the trucks that will disembark from Europe. On the huge construction site, work is in full swing, despite the rain and mud: “The parking lot will be ready not before the end of the year,” smiles a guard, also showing British humor, given that 2020 ends in 8 days. There the trucks will have to stop to complete all the formalities of the future customs. What no one says is that normally between 6,000 and 7,000 vehicles disembark from Dover and with Brexit it will take 15 minutes per vehicle: the goods risk being stopped in Ashford for days. The mega truck parking lot has also sparked controversy from environmentalists: an immense flow of asphalt will cover Kent, nicknamed England’s “garden”. But with the country blocked, ecology takes a back seat.

Truckers stuck

While waiting for the opening, trucks continue to stop at the old truck stop, an abandoned parking lot not far from the new one: the lady at the front door says there is little movement. Two truckers, father and son, are leaving: they are Hungarians. In poor English they explain that they are forced to return to Maidstone and from there they will wait on the highway for the blockade to end: theoretically only 48 hours, but the uncertainty is total. “Operation stack”, The special plan launched urgently by the Government aims to avoid congestion in the traffic of goods; the country has been at risk of collapse since yesterday: the Canal Tunnel is closed. St. Pancras station in London, from where the Eurostar depart, is deserted: on the electronic billboards the words “Cancelled”It appears on all international trains. Sainsbury’s, one of the largest supermarket chains, has caused a panic in the British: the shelves are probably empty. Just as the government is stalled in negotiations with the EU. You write Covid, but you read Brexit.

A bloc that plays the Brexiter game

The bomb dropped by Emmanuel Macron on Britain, however, runs the risk of playing the game of hard and pure Brexiters: With the UK mired in isolation, the hawks of the No Deal are looming over the loom. In fact, it is as if the country has already left without an agreement. The tabloids on Sunday night headlined “EU Quarantines Britain.” A punishment, in short. A hard Brexit would now be diluted into the general Covid chaos. And Boris would present himself as a winner in front of his constituents: he did not bow to the dictates of Brussels. A political success whose financial cost could prove fatal.