Labour's shadow chancellor demands Whitehall 'speeds up' and funds Portsmouth Brexit border upgrades

Anneliese Dodds ramped up pressure on the Conservatives to act as long-held fears the UK would tumble out of Europe without a trade deal intensified this week.

The senior Labour MP’s message came during a last-minute visit to Portsmouth to hear how port bosses have been battling to prepare the ferry terminal for Brexit.

Transport leaders at the port are eagerly awaiting the result of a multi-million pound bid to the government, which would fund mandatory upgrades to the international port’s border checks.

Mike Sellers, director of the terminal, previously warned it would take at least £20m to fund all the necessary infrastructure improvements.

During Ms Dodds’ visit, Mr Sellers said he was optimistic a decision was imminent on the cash windfall but warned any delay would cause costs to increase.

Ms Dodds echoed Mr Sellers’ warning and called on the government to ‘listen’ to his plea.

‘We’ve really got to see the government speeding up its preparations otherwise we could have a really difficult time despite all the preparations here in Portsmouth,’ she said, before adding: ‘I’m very confident that here in the port, with their experts, they will do the very best they can. But there’s no denying that this is going to be a challenging time.’

Earlier this year Mr Sellers warned transport ministers there would be ‘severe consequences’ if the government did not provide £20m to fund Brexit border upgrades.

Under new rules to tighten Britain’s borders, Portsmouth would need to create new immigration checkpoints, as well as building new compounds capable of housing live animals.

Much of this would need to be in place by July next year – a date Mr Sellers branded as ‘extremely ambitious’ and ‘highly unlikely’.

Speaking to The News today, Mr Sellers said he hoped the Cabinet Office would approve the port’s multimillion-pound infrastructure support bid ‘any day now’.

But he warned: ‘We absolutely need to have this infrastructure in place for those changes and those checks in July. But even with that funding the July 1 deadline is extremely challenging.’

Meanwhile, cabinet minister Michael Gove is being urged to fill a £1.3m ‘black hole’ in a £3.8m project to upgrade the M275.

The work, which forms part of Operation Transmission, is needed to stop lorries queuing onto the motorway from the port as border checks are tightened.

However, critical cash to help fund contractors who will carry out the upgrades has not arrived, casting doubt of the scheme.

Stephen Morgan, Portsmouth South MP, has since written to Mr Gove to express his concern.

‘Today marks exactly three weeks until the Brexit transition period comes to an end, but government has still not given clear certainty on providing the resources our city’s international port requires post-Brexit,’ he added. ‘With uncertainty over a deal now higher than ever, government must provide clarity on Brexit transitions plans immediately, to ensure the talks of lengthy lorry queues do not become a reality.’

This week the prime minister warned it was ‘very, very likely’ the UK will fail to strike a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen adding the negotiating teams’ positions remained apart on ‘fundamental issues’.

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