*“It would probably be very useful for a basketball competition,” Poole Harbour Commissioners’ chief tells POLITICO. *
Sporting a high-viz jacket and a radiant smile, former Maritime Minister Charlotte Vere declared a £2.3 million Brexit border inspection facility in the port of Poole officially open for business.
Spanning over 2,000 square meters and boasting two large unloading bays, inspection rooms and refrigeration facilities, the new border control post was well equipped to deal with the expected influx of imports from the European Union.
Eight months on from the ribbon-cutting ceremony, however, and the atmosphere at the port is decidedly less jubilant.
Since the former Conservative government introduced physical checks on imports of plant and animal products from the EU in April, the border control post has conducted a grand total of two checks. This is certainly not what the previous administration had in mind when it splashed out £1.8 million on the facility through its post-Brexit Port Infrastructure Fund.
I was recently at the airport in Amsterdam, going from San Francisco to Berlin. The EU passports line (like always) was non existent while the non EU line was nearly an hour long. I almost missed my flight (and my checked bag did) but it was totally worth it to see all the pissed off Brits complaining about having to wait.