The issues at the ports highlight what could be on the horizon in Brexit Britain

Editorial: No one now can be in any doubt about how vital the channel ports are to commerce for both the UK and the EU

(Dave Brown)

It is only a couple of years since the then-Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, infamously confessed: “We are, and I hadn’t quite understood the full extent of this, if you look at the UK and look at how we trade in goods, we are particularly reliant on the Dover-Calais crossing.”

It seems now to be an innocent moment in a more innocent time. It is worth adding what Mr Raab says next: “And that is one of the reasons why we have wanted to make sure we have a specific and very proximate relationship with the EU to ensure frictionless trade at the border.”

No one now can be in any doubt about how vital the channel ports are to commerce on both sides, and how dangerous it will be when the current “frictionless trade” comes to an end – which it will when the transition period comes to an end. As the MEP Guy Verhofstadt has pointed out, it is a timely reminder of what borders can feel like, and that the EU equally controls them.