Rupert Matthews, the Conservative MEP for the East Midlands, has written a piece for Brexit Central HERE supposedly debunking the Sunday Times story at the weekend about the "Armageddon" which could follow a no-deal exit. He says it's nonsense and even suggests the civil service report that was at the heart of the story doesn't exist! Of course, he doesn't know for sure but let's be honest, neither do I. However, to me it all sounds very plausible, and if you read Mr Matthews' piece he doesn't debunk it at all.
His reasoning is ridiculous. The story is nonsense because, well because it's nonsense! This is his explanation:
"The reasons why Dover would collapse are not stated, but from previous discussions with those who believe this tale, the favourite answer is that the new customs procedures will be complex and there won’t be enough officials or computer hardware to operate them. I don’t buy that, but for the sake of argument let’s grant them that one.
"Dover is, of course, not the only port in the UK. There are plenty of others. Would they all “collapse on day one” as well? If Dover can’t cope, maybe imports could be diverted to other ports".
He has obviously not read the notices to stakeholders issued by the EU negotiators. Calais could (and probably will) apply the rules to the UK as a third country and products of animal origin, for example, will have to go through a Border Inspection Post (BIP) and Calais doesn't even have one! And remember there are No customs checks at all at the moment - but after a no deal Brexit, even if only a small sample of loads are checked there will be delays. The customs checks don't need to be complex, even simple ones will be enough to clog up the system.
As for there being "plenty of other [ports]"- he does not seem to appreciate the same problems would apply to every one - or certainly most of them.
And because only Scotland and Cornwall were singled out as examples of areas being affected by shortages (being furthest from Dover) he thinks it's because Londoners have holiday cottages in Cornwall and the Scots want independence! He says the story, "plays nicely with all the prejudices and bigotries of the Remoaners in North London".
Mr Matthews clearly doesn't listen to people like James Hookham, the Deputy CEO of the Freight Transport Association (FTA) who says (HERE) that "its confidence in Government's ability to deliver a 'frictionless' Brexit is fast collapsing".
"Of the eight demands made in FTA's list of essentials to 'Keep Britain Trading' issued at the beginning of the year, not a single one has been progressed. Details of whether or not the country will have a Transition/Implementation Period are still unclear, there is still no decision on what Customs arrangements we will have from March 2019 onwards"
"We keep getting told that all food and agricultural exports to the Continent and Ireland will be checked at EU ports - but there is nowhere to check them, and the system to check them does not exist".
"We still don't know if we will be able to employ the 43,000 truck drivers in the UK that are nationals from another member state – that's 13 percent of our driver workforce!". And, "there is no clarification on whether UK drivers' qualifications are to be recognised, so they could well be barred from driving their own vehicles on the Continent".
No doubt Mr Hookham is just another Londoncentric Remaoaner. To a dedicated Brexiteer none of these problems exist. Because Matthews doesn't understand the details of how the freight forwarding business operates then there are no details and therefore no problems. Food and goods are transported seamlessly between the UK and the EU by a sort of magical osmosis.
This is why leave voters should be worried. Matthews is an MEP who should know these things but doesn't and his defence of a no-deal Brexit is hopelessly simplistic, the kind of arguments put forward by the loud mouthed bloke in the pub with a glassy eyed look and froth on his top lip. We are badly served by our political class and Rupert Matthews typifies all that's wrong with this country at the moment - and it has nothing to do with Brexit.
