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Ministers face demands for more honesty and transparency about any jams at the UK border in the wake of Britain’s departure from the EU, amid concerns that waves of disruptions will last six months.
Several truck drivers are believed to have been turned away in Dover for not having proper documentation following the end of the Brexit transition period last week. It has caused concern among logistics and manufacturing companies that more serious problems could occur as trade flows increase later this month.
The main initial concerns for companies refer to the availability of veterinarians to carry out controls on new export health certificates. This could affect meat and food sales to the EU. Bigger challenges will arise when cargo begins to flow from manufacturers of complex products, who are unlikely to have started using the new systems.
“We are entering a trial period,” said Elizabeth de Jong of trade body Logistics UK. “If you had your own business, you wouldn’t do it like that. You would have designed your new processes, you would have trained people on them, you would have tested the new systems, you would have used it with fictitious data, you would have taken a tour. Those are all the basics of management. We haven’t been able to do any of that.
“There are also cliff edges ahead. In July, we will also start import controls: that will require more capacity and more people. We also have grace periods in Northern Ireland.
“We need an absolute analysis of what is going well, what is not, where are the blocks and what are the difficulties. We need that honesty and transparency. It is a shared problem. We will get there and there are a lot of people who want this to work. “
As the Brexit transition period ended last Thursday, Boris Johnson hailed the new relationship with the EU as an opportunity to “transform our country.” No disruption was expected over the weekend, with low levels of cargo crossing the border. However, almost half of the trucks entering Belfast from Great Britain on the first ferry on New Year’s Day were inspected: one stopped for three hours. Jean-Michel Thillier, Calais customs director, warned that the new provisions will face a “litmus test” when traffic increases.
In a move designed to reduce queues, truck drivers heading to continental Europe must have a Kent access permit before entering the county. However, there are already reports that some permit holders did not yet have all the necessary paperwork.
Johnson won the support of hard-line conservative eurosceptics for his Brexit trade deal, but concerns remain that Northern Ireland will be treated differently from the rest of the UK and of additional controls effectively creating a border in the Sea of Ireland. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis tweeted on Friday, however, that “there was no border in the Irish Sea.”
Labor leader Keir Starmer’s decision to back the Brexit deal, which resulted in three first-time resignations, continues to anger his MPs. Some said they were now not entirely clear about Labor’s goals to improve Britain’s relationship with the EU. “Labor MPs [who refused to back the Brexit deal] they are not leaving, ”said a rebel. “They will absolutely want Labor to reconsider a customs union with the EU.”
Former shadow cabinet member Clive Lewis warned that it would be impossible for Labor to avoid the fallout from Brexit. “The exit from Europe will open a whole series of questions. A large part of the manifesto will have to talk about what we are going to do with our relationship with Europe ”.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which is seeking permission to change its name to Reform UK, plans to use the fishing concerns in its local election campaign in May. But for now, with Farage having announced that “the war is over,” the party plans to focus more on issues like the government’s Covid strategy.
The Brexit party says it will run around 2,000 candidates in May’s local elections. However, President Richard Tice said he was already concerned that there would be attempts to postpone the elections due to the pandemic.
