London, United Kingdom, April 6 – Britain unveiled Wednesday plans to streamline post-Brexit customs checks and slash red tape on goods coming into or leaving the European Union.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government has published a draft of its Border Target Operating Model, which will implement checks required under the terms of a Brexit trade agreement with the EU.
The UK has delayed implementing the checks several times since it left the bloc at the start of 2021, after a knife-edge referendum in favour of Brexit in 2016.
“Our approach has been to minimise trader burdens and maintain border security while remaining aligned with international standards,” the government said in the draft document.
There will now be a consultation period that will run for six weeks until May 19.
Sunak’s government aims to roll out its new plan via phases in the year to October 31, 2024.
The overhaul will be backed by an investment totalling more than £1 billion ($1.2 billion).
It will seek to utilise technology “to reduce the reams of paperwork firms are currently forced to complete when they do business”.
The new plan “will eradicate the cumbersome and frustrating approach currently taken to carrying out checks, replacing it with a more targeted, risk-based system that is underpinned by evidence and data”, the document added.
Wednesday’s announcement comes just days after massive border delays and weekend travel chaos at the port of Dover.
UK interior minister Suella Braverman rejected claims that the Easter getaway delays were an adverse effect of Brexit, which also ended free movement from Britain to European Union member states.
However, a government spokesperson quoted by British media on Monday recognised that “new processes” after Brexit had played a part in the travel disruption, adding that the government was discussing traffic flow improvements with France.
Traffic piled up in Dover in southeast England last weekend, with French border controls and high traffic volumes in the run-up to the Easter weekend, leading to severe delays.
The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) supported the move to digitise trade, stating that “if it is done properly then smaller firms will see benefits when it comes to importing goods into Great Britain.”
The BCC’s head of trade policy, William Bain, said “providing certainty for business is crucial and the focus must now be on delivering to the timescales set out.”
The opposition centre-right Liberal Democrats party said the new plan would “make trade between us and Europe harder”.
The UK had delayed implementing the checks four times since leaving the European Union on January 31, 2020.
