Achi news desk-
Brexit’s border control facility could end before it is ever used, reports say, in yet another blow to Rishi Sunak.
A post at Portsmouth International Port, which cost £24m to develop, may no longer be suitable to handle EU imports due to changes to border protocol – meaning it could become commercially unviable for w run.
Designed to carry out checks on up to 80 loaded lorries bringing in food and plant imports, it may now only have to process four or five loads a day, according to Sky News.
Only half of the 14 loading bays can be used, and the annual running costs of £800,000 a year will not be covered by the fees charged to importers.
It was built with a £17m grant from central government and £7m from Portsmouth City Council which owns the port, but the government’s specifications have changed five times since the first job was built.
Fewer checks are now required, so there is likely to be an unsustainable loss – which is why it could be scrapped for something more commercially viable.
So Brexit has been branded a “white elephant” by the transport leader for Portsmouth City Council, Gerald Vernon-Jones – a term for something that costs a lot to run and produces little profit.
And it might not be the only one, either.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told Sky that it had spent £200,000 to partly fund new Brexit border control facilities at 41 ports.
Now that fewer checks are required, the government says ports can use the spare space.
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told the broadcaster: “Our border control posts have sufficient capacity and capability, including for temperature-controlled shipments, to handle the volume and type of checks expected and the authorities are working to minimize disruption as these checks are delivered.”
This discovery is another bit of bad news for embattled prime minister Sunak, especially as his government has been repeatedly accused of wasting public funds in recent years.
