Politics
dover

Here's the link between the Dover traffic queues and Brexit

Here's the link between the Dover traffic queues and Brexit

Port of Dover declares critical incident as high levels of traffic caused lengthy delays

PA

Home Secretary Suella Braverman - never out of touch on issues such as immigration or border control, of course – has claimed it is “unfair” to blame Brexit for queues at the Port of Dover once again, even when the passport checks in place following UK’s decision to leave the European Union in 2016 have contributed to them happening.

It isn’t the first time these delays have happened, either, as chaos at Dover also occurred back in the summer of last year, when conservative commentator Andrew Pierce was saying we should “blame the French”.

No, we shouldn’t.

As for Ms Braverman, she told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “I don’t think it’s fair to say this is an adverse effect of Brexit. We’ve had many years now since leaving the European Union and there’s been, on the whole, very good operations and processes at the border.”

No, it isn’t unfair.

In a piece published in The Independent on Saturday, travel columnist Simon Calder wrote: “’Blame’, though, is the wrong term here. We got what we signed up [for] after a democratic vote to leave the European Union and asking to become ‘third-country nationals’ in the eyes of the EU.

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“Non-Schengen EU citizens - for example, Irish passport holders who travel from Dover to Calais – still get a light touch. All the frontier officials can do is check it is a valid travel document and belongs to the person carrying it.

“We asked to become subject to the ‘90/180-day rule’, which means that our stays in the EU are strictly limited. For that to be policed, passports must be stamped – with, in theory, every page being examined for evidence of a recent stay in Europe.

“For a coachload of 50 people that is going to take a very long time, and if dozens of coaches are heading for Dover, trouble awaits.”

Mr Calder also said that the scenes witnessed this week are the “coach variant” of what we saw last year, when loads of families planned for a trip to the continent.

Oh, and if Mr Calder’s expert opinion wasn’t enough, then the actual CEO of the Port of Dover is pointing the finger at Brexit as well.

Doug Bannister told Sky News: “The difference of being in a post-Brexit environment, means that every passport needs to be checked before a vehicle or passenger can cross into the European Union through France – and that happens here in Dover, so it does make processing more challenging.”

Now, Twitter users are all too quick to point out to Brexiteers – such as Dover MP Natalie Elphicke – that the delays at port are kind of what people like her voted for:


And when she's decrying criticism of Brexit for Dover delays, Ms Braverman is defending her government's controversial Rwanda policy, even when it's pointed out to her that 12 refugees were shot dead by the country's police force during protests in 2018...

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