Ports ‘White Elephant’ as Government does Brexit border U-turn

The UK government has delayed introducing more checks on EU goods entering the UK over fears it will disrupt supply chains and add to rising inflation. New import controls on EU food products had been due to begin in July.

But the government said “it would be wrong to impose new administrative burdens and risk disruption at ports” at a time of higher costs amid the war in Ukraine and rising energy prices.

It is the fourth time it has delayed EU import checks since the UK left the EU.

Commenting the British Ports Association said:

“This is quite an amazing development to say the least! Many UK port operators have built Border Control Posts in preparation for post Brexit checks and all were due to be ready. This announcement is a major policy change, meaning the facilities will effectively become white elephants, wasting millions of pounds of public and private funding, not to mention the huge effort there has been to get things ready in time”.

Whilst other business groups welcomed the move.

“We are dealing with significant supply chain stress and inflationary costs this year and this would have made a bad situation much worse,” said the Cold Chain Federation.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said: “Imposition of full import controls this summer would have meant yet another burden for small firms which are already wrestling with new trade rules and spiralling operating costs”.

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