*“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.

  • @OpenStars
    link
    English
    291 month ago

    It almost sounds like they may not have thought this through fully…

    • Flying SquidM
      link
      fedilink
      English
      231 month ago

      You mean it’s a bad idea to base policy on a sign on the side of a bus?

      • @OpenStars
        link
        English
        21 month ago

        I am not from the UK so it is not my place to say one way or another…

        But many people who voted for it directly are saying exactly that, yes! They say “how dare you, what were you thinking, allowing us to make such an important choice as that!?”

        That is what makes me think that democracy has lost. Even The People seem to no longer want it. It takes real effort to get stuff done, and if we don’t maintain our shit, then it falls apart.:-(

        img