The queues at Dover are an outcome of Brexit – and totally predictable

Editorial: Almost the whole point of the EU is to make the movement of goods and people easier within its borders

Supporters of Brexit cannot pretend that the queues at Dover are nothing to do with their decision (Getty)

Lucy Moreton, the general secretary of the Immigration Services Union, put it most succinctly: “This is democracy. There was a vote. Some people voted for it. Some people voted against it. This is one of the outcomes that was reasonably predictable.” She was talking about the traffic queues at Dover.

Inevitably, blame is flying in both directions. The Dover port authorities blame the French police at Calais for failing to put on enough officers. The Boulogne-Calais port authorities blame the UK Border Force for the lack of British staff on the French side. Liz Truss, the foreign secretary and a candidate in the Conservative Party leadership election, has described the delays as “appalling”, “unacceptable” and “entirely avoidable”. She also said, not entirely convincingly: “We will be working with the French authorities to find a solution.”

But Ms Moreton’s remarks went to the nub of the issue. Regardless of which side is to blame – and the likelihood is that there was poor planning on both sides – this kind of problem was always going to be more likely after we left the European Union. Almost the whole point of the EU is to make the movement of goods and people easier within its borders. The UK was never so enthusiastic about the free movement of people, remaining outside the Schengen passport-free zone and retaining border checks. But leaving the EU nevertheless has consequences, and here is another.

If the French wish to check the passports of every arrival from the UK, it is likely to take longer than before. As Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, put it, “There will be increased transaction times at the border.” Or, as Ms Moreton put it, “France has taken back control of its border.” At times of high volumes of traffic, such as now, any glitches are likely to lead to long delays.

Of course, The Independent did not argue that Britain should maintain its membership of the EU solely for the sake of avoiding long queues at Dover on some of the busiest days of the year. Nor did we say, for example, that Britain should remain in the EU just to keep an open border in Ireland and between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. These were only two of many reasons why EU membership was in the UK’s national interest, in our view.

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It is possible, therefore, that those who believe that we are better off outside the EU will think that making life a little more difficult for holidaymakers is a price worth paying. What supporters of Brexit cannot do, however, is pretend that the queues at Dover are nothing to do with their decision.

What the supporters of Brexit can do is blame the French, but they are wasting their breath. Even if the French were being unreasonable, and even if they were trying to “punish” us for Brexit – which we do not believe to be the case – the Brexiteers have to accept that this was a risk they took. It is ironic that Ms Truss was a Remainer, and that she  is now demanding that the French and British authorities work together to solve the problem.

Leaving the EU was always going to make it harder to negotiate mutually beneficial cooperation with our nearest neighbour. As Ms Moreton said: “This is one of the outcomes that was reasonably predictable.”