Bloomberg claims to have seen a 29 document circulated by HMRC setting out how the GVMS (Goods Vehicle Movement System) system will work. Intended to avoid blocking the Channel ports with trucks, it was described a few days ago at the future relationship committee as a "pre-declaration" system so the Bloomberg article headline: Trucks set to need taxman’s permission to move, is hardly news. This is how it will need to happen.
But it can only work if HMRC are sure all the customs and safety and security declarations are properly filed electronically beforehand and the GVMS system actually works. Remember this is not yet at the design stage and I don't think anyone believes it is remotely possible that it might be built, tested and ready by the end of the year.
And make no mistake it MUST be ready by January 2 next year otherwise trucks will arrive at Dover with errors in paperwork that means the French will not allow them into France. They have capacity to hold 300 trucks (we can hold about 10 in Dover itself) - about 3% of the 10,000 per day, but once this is filled the ferries will be unable to disembark their next loads and the whole thing will grind to a halt.
Dr Anna Jerzewska tweeted:
Of course GVMS won't be ready... I mean... of course, it won't.— Dr Anna Jerzewska (@AnnaJerzewska) June 30, 2020
I'm still wondering which other systems it will need to communicate with
/4https://t.co/3ukBP4YCIZ
The GVMS system is designed to avoid long queues in Dover but even when properly operational it will only have the effect of reducing the flow of exports from the UK.
Joe Mayes of Bloomberg tweeted about the 'scoop':
Scoop: we have obtained the government's plan for post-Brexit border checks with the EU 1/https://t.co/LwvqcIldyc— Joe Mayes (@Joe_Mayes) June 29, 2020
In advice to exporters the government has previously said that declarations for trucks crossing from Dover or Folkestone could file paperwork up to an hour or so before embarking.
But the predeclaration system will need to come much earlier now. Vehicles moving from NI or Scotland will take hours and hours, up to a day to reach Dover but will be unable to begin their journey until given clearance that VAT has been paid by the importer, all declarations have been filed and for groupage loads this could amount to hundreds of forms to be filled in. Admittedly, it will be done electronically but it still represents a massive amount of extra work that up to now, inside the single market and the customs union, has not been required.
More than that, international hauliers will be reliant on a government computer system to permit the start of a journey - although this may not even be compulsory!
One slide reads, “If you decide to control goods using the Pre-Lodgement model at your location and you would like to make use of the GVMS…..” indicating hauliers may not be forced to use it:
So how do you stop a driver turning up at Dover without the right paperwork?The government will use a new and, as yet, untested IT system -- the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) 4/ pic.twitter.com/Z9xpukzdtr
— Joe Mayes (@Joe_Mayes) June 29, 2020
On Twitter and in the press there was a lot of hand-wringing about the deadline for requesting an extension passing last night and therefore the UK runs a big risk of leaving the EU without a trade deal in place. I am quite relaxed about it. The ERG should be the most worried.
Johnson, Cummings, Gove and Frost are in for an almighty shock soon and will be faced with leaping off a cliff or - not. Regardless of what is said now or in the coming weeks and months. the sound of the ticking clock will grow loudest in Downing Street.
We will be forced into a massive climb down and into accepting whatever deal is on the table.
