Lucy Moreton, the general secretary of the Immigration Services Union, put it most succinctly: “This is democracy. There was a vote. Some people voted for it. Some people voted against it. This is one of the outcomes that was reasonably predictable.” She was talking about the traffic queues at Dover.
Inevitably, blame is flying in both directions. The Dover port authorities blame the French police at Calais for failing to put on enough officers. The Boulogne-Calais port authorities blame the UK Border Force for the lack of British staff on the French side. Liz Truss, the foreign secretary and a candidate in the Conservative Party leadership election, has described the delays as “appalling”, “unacceptable” and “entirely avoidable”. She also said, not entirely convincingly: “We will be working with the French authorities to find a solution.”
But Ms Moreton’s remarks went to the nub of the issue. Regardless of which side is to blame – and the likelihood is that there was poor planning on both sides – this kind of problem was always going to be more likely after we left the European Union. Almost the whole point of the EU is to make the movement of goods and people easier within its borders. The UK was never so enthusiastic about the free movement of people, remaining outside the Schengen passport-free zone and retaining border checks. But leaving the EU nevertheless has consequences, and here is another.
