Welcome to Dover.
This small town in the southeast of the U.K. is the closest land point to the rest of the European Union.
France stands only about 20 miles from here, which makes this small town
a crucial point of entry for European goods into the U.K.
The Port of Dover handles up to $150 billion of U.K. trade every year.
On a daily basis, an average of 10,000 trucks cross the English Channel.
This is possible because every truck is checked in approximately two minutes.
However, this fast process could be about to change as the U.K. leaves the European Union.
New regulations are likely to increase the time it takes to check the transport of goods.
The Port of Dover has estimated that even a two-minute increase
in the time to process each truck coming from Europe would cause
queues of over 17 miles in Dover and a similar chaos on the French side.
These trucks can contain all kinds of stuff that has to move quickly.
At the moment the only checks that are done are passport controls, so if you are a French driver
driving across to the U.K., your passport is checked in Calais. When you get to Dover, you just drive off.
There could be some fairly significant customs checks,
but also checks on specific types of products, particularly on food.
Dover is not only about big trucks carrying food or car parts.
It’s also about the millions of foot passengers that cross the channel
to build businesses, to visit their relatives or simply to go on holiday.
There could be an increase of 230% in the number of decisions
that need to be taken to allow people to come into the U.K.
Last year alone, 2.6 million trucks entered the Port of Dover.
And just under 2.2 million car passengers arrived at the Port.
But there are growing concerns that all of these flows could be dented dramatically.
The U.K. is set to leave the EU in March,
but there are more questions than answers about their future relationship.
This means that overnight, the current rules that apply
to European and U.K. trade could cease, creating trade chaos.
Do you think that being outside of the EU could bring problems, specifically for Dover?
To start with, but then it'll all iron out in the end.
What's the EU done for Dover? You've only got to come to the high street.
Lorries are a worry, definitely.
You start adding border controls to that, Dover will just seize up completely.
We’re here to meet with a local MP, Craig Mackinlay,
who is also a member of the parliament committee examining the Brexit process.
I’m increasingly thinking that it's going to be a no-deal Brexit, and I’ve got no fears of that.
The EU has a massive trade surplus of goods with the U.K.
If there’s any blockages it’s going to hurt them, equally if not more, than it'll hurt us.
There’s been a report from the Dover district council that said specifically, in case there’s no Brexit deal,
there's going to be queues. How come you’re not concerned about that?
I’m on that Dover district board that is looking at these issues.
Now let's put some of the nonsense to bed.
Why would we stop any traffic into the U.K.?
We’re not going to put any blockages up, there'll be no stoppage of flows of medicines or
foodstuffs, why on earth would we stop that?
But checking those products will take longer.
We don’t have to check them. If we’re happy with the quality and standards of the EU, which we are today,
and we will be on the 29th of March, why would we suddenly be changing our view on the 30th of March?
I think the risk of that approach is that if the global trade community sees Britain
essentially refusing to do some of the most basic, rudimentary customs and product checks
on goods coming from the EU, they will see that as potentially discriminatory about global trade because
we do all of those kinds of checks at the moment for anything that comes to us from outside the EU.
The Port and the Tunnel would have to build new facilities,
so the transport of goods and people could continue in a smooth way.
This would demand new funding, but it would also
require time before the new infrastructure would be completed.
The next step would be hiring more staff to work in Dover,
including many more vets to examine animals crossing the channel.
We're a country that can stand on our own. So there's no need to rely on others.
I think that Brexit is ultimately going to be a mistake.
Europe's got too much power.
I think it's stupid because foreign people do the jobs some English people don't like to do.
You think it would be better to be outside of the European Union?
Yeah, definitely.
And why is that?
I'm literally, like, the worst person.
I don't know.
Time is running short before the U.K. officially leaves the European Union.
And yet, people here in Dover are still divided when it comes to Brexit.
Thank you so much for watching.
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