Brexit pressure mounts on government as border queues build

Dover has been hit by disruption, while the Australia trade deal has been picked apart. Adam Forrest looks at whether post-Brexit woes could influence the government’s stance on protocol talks

Lorries queue outside the port of Dover in Kent on 18 January (PA)

Shared battle scars seem to count for little these days. A very strange week at Westminster saw top Tory Brexiteers turn on Boris Johnson. Steve Baker – the self-identified “Brexit hardman” – said it appeared to be “checkmate” for the PM, while fellow “Brexit Spartan” Andrew Bridgen said Mr Johnson had lost all authority and predicted his imminent demise.

Mr Johnson’s former champions may wish to think of Brexit as a long-past victory, a fight now receding into political history. But the economic consequences of our exit from the EU are only just becoming clear, and the government is under growing pressure to sort out at least some of the unravelling mess.

Lorry drivers are blaming the huge queues building up at the port of Dover “entirely” on post-Brexit controls, with one telling The Independent that delays and disruption on both sides of the border are bound to get worse when imports and exports pick up again in February.