A big day in Dover

I posted in early February about our concerns over the potential impact of the EU’s introduction of its Entry Exit System (EES) on traffic and other disruption in Kent. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to visit both Eurotunnel and the Port of Dover to see their preparations, and government has emphasised its recognition of the importance of the issue and the actions it is taking to address it. (A good example of this was the session of the European Scrutiny Committee, to which I had previously given evidence, on 1 May with Home Office Minister Tom Pursglove and Transport Minister Guy Opperman). 

Today Radio 4’s PM Programme was broadcast from Dover; the intended focus was on the EES issue, and I was interviewed towards the end of the programme. All of which was somewhat upended by the announcement at lunchtime that Dover’s Conservative MP, Natalie Elphicke, had crossed the floor to Labour. 

Nonetheless, EES did get some coverage; my interview is towards the end, at about 53 minutes in. After some unsurprising questions about the MP, I was able to put across both the work that is being done and the continuing risks and challenges. What we need is early sharing of national data so that we are clear as to what must be done; as much as possible to secure pre-registration to ease the pressure on the highly constrained Port site; funding to address some of the local needs, such as road maintenance on heavily used diversion routes and driver welfare sites and facilities; and recognition that, while this is an issue playing out in Kent, it is also of national significance and impact. 

Counting down to EES

In the course of the last week, I had the opportunity to highlight to a parliamentary committee the challenges to Kent from the anticipated introduction of the European Union’s Entry Exit System (EES). You can find Kent County Council’s media release on this here.

Deirdre Wells, chief executive of Visit Kent, Andrew Osborne, head of economic development at Ashford Borough Council and I gave evidence to the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday. EES, which brings with it requirements for biometric checks on entry to the EU external frontier, is now expected (after a number of delays) to be introduced in October. This raises the prospect of long delays because of the very constrained space within the Port of Dover, resulting in further large scale disruption to Kent’s roads, businesses and visitor economy, in addition to its impact on the quality of residents’ lives.

We had a good hearing from the Committee, and I set out the need to ensure that, at the very minimum, there is extensive communication and preparation; but we must make every effort to present the case for some form of pre-registration. While Kent County Council and our partners in the county will more than play our part, this is above all a matter for government. We are seeing government respond to this approaching crisis, and raised this successfully in a recent visit by the Roads Minister, Guy Opperman. But as I pointed out, we are not yet seeing the scale of government focus and preparation that we had in the run up to the end of Brexit transition in 2020. Yet the effects could be at least as great.