LONDON (AFP) – Government failures to prepare for Brexit mean the United Kingdom (UK) faces “significant disruption” when it is fully free of the European Union (EU) on January 1, an official watchdog said yesterday.
The coronavirus pandemic will add to the strain on freight,
farming and other economic sectors, especially in Northern Ireland, with or
without an EU trade deal, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.
Britain formally left the EU in January but remains bound by
its rules under a transition period until the end of this year.
The two sides are currently battling to thrash out a new
economic partnership, but Britain’s full exit will mean changes either way, in
particular customs checks for trucks heading to the EU from British ports.
In a report, the NAO backed up complaints by business
leaders who have been warning for months that the government is putting all the
pressure on companies to prepare, but failing to do enough itself.
“Even if government makes further progress with its
preparations, there is still likely to be significant disruption at the border
from January 1, 2021 as traders will be unprepared for new EU border controls
which will require additional administration and checks,” the NAO said.
NAO Chief Gareth Davies said, “The January 1 deadline is unlike any previous EU exit deadline – significant changes at the border will take place and government must be ready.”
He added that the situation was challenging because of the
Covid-19 pandemic.
The watchdog’s report said computing systems have yet to be
tested for outbound freight, and transit areas for lorries were not ready. It
said the government had also yet to appoint enough customs agents, despite
their “vital” role in ensuring trade flows smoothly from next year.
Under its “reasonable worst-case scenario”, the UK
government concedes that queues of up to 7,000 heavy-goods vehicles could
develop in southeast England from January 1 as the post-transition period kicks
in. It insists it has ploughed more than GBP700 million (USD920 million) into
border infrastructure, but business groups said they are hampered especially by
the slow rollout of critical IT systems identified in the NAO report.
The auditors also highlighted concerns about checks that will be required for goods moving from the rest of the UK to Northern Ireland, which shares a border with EU member Ireland.
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