Number 10 says Dover border chaos ‘not necessitated’ by Brexit
Downing Street has said travel chaos at the Dover port over the past few days has not been “necessitated by leaving the European Union”.
Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said “there are changes following leaving the European Union which we recognised and which we have planned for”, but that the long queues at Dover were not a necessary effect of Brexit.
British holidaymakers that want to cross the Channel to France are being warned by the AA that long queues will likely await them for the rest of summer.
The last few days have been marred by miles of disruption in Kent as holidaymakers and lorries were gridlocked in the face of more stringent border checks entering France.
The traffic is today flowing more freely.
The UK government is blaming the chaos on French authorities for not stationing more border guards in Dover as the summer rush starts.
Paris has said that there is a requirement for more rigorous passport checks post-Brexit and that the UK’s new traffic management system was not working.
The UK’s former ambassador to France Lord Peter Ricketts told The Observer that the “shortage of French border force officials is a short-term, tactical problem”.
“The long-term, serious issue is that this is the first time we’ve seen the full pressure on the border after Brexit,” he said.
“Even if it was a full complement of the French border force there would still be massive delays, because Dover port can’t cope with the volume.”