Queues of 7,000 lorries outside Dover: Michael Gove's leaked warning on no-deal Brexit

Michael Gove today warned of “significant change and challenge” when Brexit is finally completed in 100 days — including a risk of queues of 7,000 lorries stretching across Kent.

The nightmare prospect of two-day delays lasting for months through key ports such as Dover horrified freight firms and sparked fresh fears that some goods could run short in the New Year.

“There are now just 100 days to go until the UK leaves the single market and the customs union,” Mr Gove was expected to tell MPs.

“This will be a moment of great opportunity — but also of significant change and challenge. It’s vital that we all take the steps required to grasp those opportunities and meet and master those challenges.”

Mr Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was setting out to Parliament this afternoon the “reasonable worst case scenario” in which drivers and firms would not be ready for new paperwork at the borders, causing severe blockages.

Officials stressed it was not a prediction but an example of what could happen if businesses do not prepare for extra paperwork when Britain leaves the delay-free trading system governed by European Union rules.

Attempts to negotiate a trade deal that would reduce the risk of delays were continuing this week, despite the arguments over the Government’s apparent threat to break international law if they collapse. In a potential olive branch, ministers may delay the final stages of the Internal Market Bill until after a summit with EU leaders on October 15 where a deal could be decided.

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier is preparing to travel to London for further informal talks with his counterpart Lord Frost in an effort to reach an agreement, which has stalled due to disputes on state aid and fishing rights.

A leaked letter from Mr Gove, who is in charge of no-deal planning, revealed the potential scale of the delays when EU rules cease to apply from January 1. In the worst case, between 30 and 50 per cent of trucks would not have the correct paperwork, and a “lack of capacity to hold unready trucks at French ports” could choke the flow of traffic across the strait to 60 to 80 per cent of normal levels.

“This could lead to maximum queues of 7,000 port-bound trucks in Kent and associated maximum delays of up to two days,” the documents said.

Such delays could carry on for at least three months, hauliers were warned.

Freight sector leaders accused ministers of failing to do enough to ease concerns. The Road Haulage Association said its meeting with Mr Gove had fallen “far short of our expectations”. RHA chief executive Richard Burnett said: “We’ve been consistently warning the Government that there will be delays at ports but they’re just not engaging with industry on coming up with solutions.”

Logistics UK, formerly the Freight Transport Association, was seething last week after being told the Government’s Smart Freight system — designed to reduce the risk of cargo delays — would still be in testing mode in January.

A Government spokesman said: “As a responsible Government we continue to make extensive preparations for a wide range of scenarios, including the reasonable worst case.” Think tank UK in a Changing Europe said failure to reach a trade deal with the EU could hit Britain’s economy three times harder in the long term than Covid. Queues at the border, shortages of fresh food and medicine as well as “hassle” travelling to the continent are also possible.

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