So the way, I see it is at the end of March when we crash out of the EU all rights to the existing free trade agreement will end.
Do we have the infrastructure in place at our international gateways to clear the present levels of imports from euroland thru customs. I suppose the international air terminals we also fail to cope.
I suppose another way to look at it is, thousands of jobs will be created by international brokers & couriers in the stampede to keep the flow of goods into the market place.
Tarrifs will need to be pitched high enough to pay for all this or will they just pass the cost on to us via higher prices for anything imported
I really don't buy this guff about all the trucks coming into Dover having to be stopped and searched causing huge delays.
At other big ports like Felixstowe, Southampton etc they physically check a tiny percentage of containers coming from outside the EU. Between 1% and 4% are figures I've seen quoted.
Lord Wolfson head of Next was on Andrew Marr a couple of months ago and in response to Marr's claim of food rotting on the docks due to customs delays, said that his containers coming from the Far East for Next were generally on the road to their destination within an hour of being unloaded from the ship. I think it's reasonable to assume that he knows what he's talking about.
Have a look around your local supermarket and you'll find fresh produce from far and wide. Fish from Iceland and Vietnam, vegetables from Kenya, Ghana and Peru, fruit from South Africa and Costa Rica, salad from Israel, tomatoes from Morocco, flowers from Kenya. Non of these places are in the EU but we never hear of stuff from these countries rotting on the docks...
The obvious reposte to the above is that
"Ah but these countries have trade agreements with the EU which we will lose" which may be true, but I'm sure that these countries will be keen to do a quick deal to keep trade flowing. As I understand things Liam Fox's International Trade Dept has 'Cut n Paste' agreements ready to go, pending further arrangements for these countries that the EU has FTA's with.