Infrastructure development for the UK’s new post-Brexit border is falling behind because of a shortage of government funding and Whitehall bureaucracy, leading British ports have warned. As a result the government is facing calls to further delay its plans to introduce full border checks from July, or to show significant flexibility for business in the… Continue reading Building of Brexit border posts faces delays
The UK’s main opposition Labour party has accused the government of failing to protect the public against Covid-19 after the home secretary admitted she had argued unsuccessfully to close the borders in March last year. Priti Patel was recorded telling a Conservative Friends of India meeting on Zoom that she had been overruled at the… Continue reading Labour attacks Johnson government for lax Covid border controls
Trump administration officials failed to prepare for families separated during the pursuit of its “zero tolerance” policy for parents and children crossing the southern US border with Mexico, according to a scathing government watchdog report. The report from the inspector-general for the US Department of Justice, published just days before President Donald Trump leaves the… Continue reading US watchdog blames senior Trump officials for border separations
Michel Barnier has warned that many of the new regulatory frictions hampering cross-Channel trade will be impossible to smooth over, as the inevitable consequences of Brexit begin to manifest themselves for businesses across Europe. The EU’s Brexit negotiator said that some things have “changed for good” as a result of the UK’s policy choices, noting… Continue reading Barnier warns post-Brexit border friction is the new normal
The UK’s first full day in 47 years outside the EU’s single market and customs union was marked on Friday by a smooth flow of traffic through all-but empty ports on both sides of the country’s main frontiers, as many hauliers held off making shipments to let new customs requirements bed down. Operations were largely… Continue reading ‘So far so good’ on Brexit day one as border posts await tougher tests
The UK government published more than 300 pages of updated advice setting out how the new trade border with the EU will operate just hours before it came into force, leading business groups to plead for leniency in enforcement in the coming months. The eleventh-hour document published on New Year’s Eve included 70 pages of… Continue reading Hauliers rush to get up to speed on UK trade border controls
Spain and the UK have reached an agreement in principle on the free movement between the British overseas territory of Gibraltar and Spain, less than a day before the frontier would have become the only hard land border created by Brexit. “The border gate will be lifted and controls between Gibraltar and Spain will be… Continue reading Spain and UK agree deal to keep Gibraltar land border open
Ireland will intensify police patrols along the land border with Northern Ireland as the end of the Brexit transition looms, in a bid to prevent organised crime groups exploiting the new trading regime. The plan to boost border policing came as Micheál Martin’s government told business to make final preparations for new customs, food and… Continue reading Ireland to step up police border patrols ahead of Brexit
Spain’s government approved a decree on Tuesday regulating parts of its relationship with the citizens of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar after the Brexit transition period ends on January 1. The measures approved by the cabinet of Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, allow Gibraltarians to continue to hold Spanish public sector jobs, work in… Continue reading Gibraltar and Spain seek Brexit deal to avoid hard border
Travel into France from the UK resumed on Wednesday morning after Paris reopened its borders with Britain for people who have tested negative for Covid-19, but in Dover on Wednesday the policy change did more to exacerbate the frustration of angry drivers than free up the flow of trucks. Scuffles broke out between lorry drivers… Continue reading Frustration boils over among truckers stuck in England despite border reopening
