£48m border control post may be obsolete as 'yet another Brexit bonus' slammed
North Wales Live readers are unhappy to hear that a facility designed to handle the additional red tape resulting from Brexit could become obsolete before it even opens its doors. The UK's departure from the EU in 2020 introduced extra bureaucracy at the border between the UK and the European Union, including sanitary and phytosanitary checks on fresh produce from the EU.
The previous UK Government postponed implementing these checks due to fears of price increases for businesses and consumers. However, they did not abandon these checks and continued to develop the necessary building.
In North Wales, the UK Government allocated £47.8m for the construction of a border control post at Holyhead, which would be managed by the Welsh Government. Kier Group was awarded a £41m construction contract last summer, and work began on the development at Parc Cybi, just outside Holyhead, with completion expected by autumn.
However, the site could potentially become an expensive folly before it even becomes operational. In May, the UK and EU reached a new SPS agreement aimed at reducing trade barriers for food, plants, and animal products, thereby making trade between the UK and EU more affordable and straightforward.
The Welsh Government has stated: "We are considering the implications of a potential SPS agreement with the EU on the future implementation of the Border Target Operating Model in Wales. The Deputy First Minister will make a statement to the Senedd in the coming weeks."
On Tuesday, they confirmed they will not push on with final commissioning and staffing of the site. Huw Irranca-Davies MS, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, said he would keep that decision under review until the final details of the agreement with the EU are known.
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, MS for Ynys Mon, commented on the situation saying: "The chaotic situation regarding the need – or not – for border control posts is symptomatic of the chaos and costs surrounding Brexit as a whole. Large sums of public money have been spent, Anglesey Council has faced significant pressures, and we even lost the very important truck stop that went to make way for post-Brexit border infrastructure. We need assurances now that the taxpayer won't be left further out of pocket, but the sad thing is that much of the damage caused will remain with us for many years to come."
Commenter Driver123456 says: 'Why did they have to take the truck stop? It was an absolute joke, but they insisted they wanted that site instead of the clear land across the way. They could have built on that, but paid way over the odds for the land!'
ThePickledLiver replies: 'There will still be 100 HGV parking spaces, and while the inspection shed might not be useful, there's the admin block which would make an excellent drivers' R&R.
"Small layout changes and it'll be perfectly usable/re-useable as something other than a border post. Not quite 'white elephant' stuff. We could perhaps copy what they do (and I've used) on the continent and provide 1 and 2-bed rooms for drivers. 10/15 euro a night, nothing fancy but better than bunking in the cab. Must pay for itself 'cos there's plenty of them. And that's before factoring-in the times that the ferries are delayed by weather. That would cover at least, erm, 2 million, ish.'
Captcheese thinks: 'Quite eye watering at 47 million for a shower block and bogs for HGV drivers.'
LlainPeris thinks: 'We are all paying for the Brexit Mess - 'taking back control' was always very misleading at best: what needs controlling is the way multi-national companies pay so little tax, and for that you need multi-national action by governments not Little Britain acting on its own.'
Northwalessaint agrees: 'Yet another 'Brexit Bonus'!'
Marti1 adds: 'It seems leaving the EU cost more than staying.'
PaulLuckock writes: 'The Welsh electorate voted for Brexit and so we collectively have to take responsibility for the settled will of the people in 2016.'
Steamnut points out: 'And that wonderful Holyhead truck-stop would still be open. Amazing how we keep doing this at all levels both national and local. And yes, Conwy we are talking about you. We need more accountability; people who sign-off on expensive schemes ought to pay the price for their mistakes.'
Jnrm replies: 'Well the Welsh people voted for, and therefore 'signed off' on Brexit, a really expensive scheme, so I guess they should be footing the bill then. It was the UK Government that paid £47.8 million to fund this facility, not the Welsh Government. Plaid states there was a large sum of public money spent which has been wasted and that taxpayers shouldn't be left out of pocket. Well it's the English taxpayer who should be complaining as they funded it!'
What do you think the border control building should be used for? Are you angry that money has been wasted? Have your say in our comments section.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
43 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Two days less holiday? France is up in arms but my sympathy is limited
France is skint, but the French are in denial. To judge by the howls of outrage from the left and the hard right of the French political spectrum, you would think the prime minister, François Bayrou, had just taken a Javier Milei-style chainsaw to public services, announced Doge-style mass layoffs or imposed swingeing pay cuts. But it was Bayrou's suggestion that the French should give up two of their 11 cherished public holidays – Easter Monday and 8 May, the anniversary of the end of the second world war in Europe – and work instead to increase economic output and hence government revenue that provoked the anger. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, accused the centrist prime minister of leading a 'race towards an economic, financial and social abyss for the greater suffering of all'. The Socialist party leader, Olivier Faure, described the proposals as 'a demolition plan for our French model', and Jordan Bardella, president of the hard-right National Rally (RN), said the the proposal to cancel the two holidays was 'a direct attack on our history'. The hard left and the populist right threatened to bring down the government with no confidence motions in the autumn, when the budget will be put to a hung parliament, as they did with Bayrou's short-lived predecessor, Michel Barnier, last year. As is so often the case, the sound and fury in the echo chamber of French political rhetoric is out of all proportion to reality. Bayrou proposes a standstill in public sector pay, pensions, welfare benefits and tax thresholds in 2026, which, with inflation forecast to increase slightly to about 1.4% next year, means a modest erosion of living standards for most people and a slightly increased tax take. Better-off pensioners will pay more tax, poorer ones will pay less. The measures are supposed to reduce the deficit by €43.8bn to 4.6% of economic output next year. Only defence spending will be increased, in line with France's commitment to Nato, given Europe's deteriorating security situation. This is hardly a draconian austerity purge for a country that had a deficit of 5.8% of GDP last year – the highest in the euro area – and which by most rational measurements is living beyond its means. National debt has risen to 113% of GDP, higher than any EU country except Greece and Italy. But while their debt piles are falling, France's keeps on growing. Public spending accounts for 56.5% of GDP in France, the second highest level in the EU after Finland. Despite the centrist president Emmanuel Macron's intention to reduce the tax burden and get more French people into work when he took office in 2017, a series of crises – the revolt of the gilets jaunes against a carbon tax, the Covid-19 pandemic and the effects of Russia's war in Ukraine – triggered more state expenditure. In 2023, France's tax-to-GDP ratio was 43.8%, significantly higher than the average of 33.9% in advanced economies. The country has too many layers of public administration, which together employ 5.8 million people – 20% of the total workforce. Bayrou proposed that one in three retiring civil servants should not be replaced, drawing immediate protests from trade unions representing teachers, health workers and the police. Perhaps the most telling criticism came from Édouard Philippe, Macron's first prime minister and a likely centrist presidential candidate, who said Bayrou's package contained no structural reforms of failing public policies and was just an emergency plan to limit the damage without solving the problem. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion Axing a couple of public holidays would go some way towards narrowing the gap between the number of hours worked per inhabitant in France compared with competitors such as Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK – not to mention the United States or South Korea. But the French are militantly resistant to any attempt to remove acquired social rights, regardless of the economic situation, changing demography or dire public finances, as they showed with sustained social unrest over Macron's raising of the retirement age to 64. It's not that French workers actually work much less than their European counterparts. But France has less of its population in employment because of a combination of earlier retirement, later entry into the labour market, higher unemployment and welfare dependency. 'The markets and the EU are watching us,' Pierre Moscovici, the president of the French court of accounts and a former finance minister and European commissioner, said after presenting an annual report that warned that the country's debt was approaching a tipping point. 'As demanding and difficult as it may be, getting our public finances under control from 2026 is imperative for debt sustainability,' he added. France has long enjoyed the indulgence of bond market vigilantes because of its ability to raise revenue and a presumption that its debt was implicitly backed by Germany, since a French financial crisis would trigger severe turbulence in the eurozone. But several credit ratings agencies have recently lowered France's sovereign rating because of a concern that the government will be unable to enact serious deficit-cutting measures without a parliamentary majority. French people need to get real about their fiscal predicament before it descends into an acute crisis. So far there is little sign of that reality dawning on either the political class or the population. The left just keeps repeating that the government should soak the rich and reimpose a wealth tax, even though that would make little more than a symbolic dent in the deficit. The populist right argues that the state could save all the money it needs if only it stopped paying benefits to immigrants. Those numbers don't add up either. With so many politicians encouraging voters to go on believing that 'public money' grows on trees or can be borrowed in unlimited amounts – Mélenchon has argued in the past that France should default on its debt – it is hard to have a rational debate on the budget. The stage is set for another battle of wills in parliament, and probably in the street. If the uneasy grouping of centrist and conservative parties supporting Bayrou cannot get something resembling his proposed savings through the National Assembly this autumn, France may be plunged into a real financial crisis that could play into the hands of Marine Le Pen's National Rally ahead of the next presidential election, due in 2027. Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Major survey reveals 'standout' view on 'Scottish visa'
The latest Understanding Business survey, conducted by 56° North and Diffley Partnership, found 70% of companies are supportive of a Scottish visa to allow some migrants to come to work in Scotland, as long as they live in the country and maintain a Scottish tax code. A slightly smaller number, 68%, believe migration is vital for filling critical skills shortages in Scotland and that the Scottish Government should have power to control the migration of workers. However, respondents to the survey were conscious of the impact of migration on the local workforce, and the need for joined-up thinking on devolution of migration and UK-wide immigration policy. Scottish businesses groups, notably those representing the hospitality and tourism sectors, have regularly voiced concern over skills shortages since Brexit, which ended the free movement of people between the UK and countries within the European Union. There have been calls by the [[Scottish Government]] in recent years for the introduction of a Scottish immigration visa system to help attract workers to Scotland, but they have been resisted by the UK Government, which controls immigration policy. However, it appears the issue is not going away. The latest Understanding Business survey suggests Scottish employers are interested in a more flexible, regionally responsive immigration policy, particularly in light of workforce shortages and general economic pressures. The proposed visa would be designed to meet the needs of the Scottish labour market and population requirements which can differ from those in other parts of the UK. Only 17% of respondents said they opposed the idea of a Scottish visa, while the remaining 14% were neutral or unsure. The survey authors said the relatively low level of opposition suggests there is broad recognition among employers of the economic and demographic benefits of such a scheme. The proposed Scottish visa would allow migrants to work and pay tax in Scotland, while being required to live in the country. This would reflect immigration models used in countries such as Canada and Australia. The support shown towards a Scottish visa came as businesses indicated a degree of confidence about the economic outlook. A plurality of expect turnover (47%) and profitability (44%) to increase over the next 12 months, record highs for the survey series, followed closely by those that think their turnover or profitability will remain the same in the next year, at 41% and 39%. Around half (48%) believe general economic conditions are worse than a year ago, and 41% expect that conditions will continue to deteriorate over the next year. But a growing proportion expressed the view that the general economy is better now than a year ago (30%) or will improve over the next year (35%), up seven and 10 percentage points respectively. Well over half of Scottish businesses said they were more concerned about tax (56%) and inflation (55%) than they were three months ago, although these proportions witnessed small declines of three and four percentage points respectively. Meanwhile, there were encouraging findings for government ministers who are often accused of being out of touch with business. More businesses agreed that the Scottish and UK Governments are concerned with the needs of Scottish business and taking action to address them. Agreement that the UK Government is concerned with the needs of Scottish business is 'notably lower' compared with the perception of the Scottish Government on this front, at two in five (40%) compared to over half (53%). However, both have risen considerably since the last survey wave, up seven and five percentage points. A smaller gap was apparent when considering if both governments are taking action to address Scottish business concerns. Mark Diffley, founder and director at Diffley Partnership said: 'The standout data point this quarter is the significant business support for the introduction of a Scottish visa for workers, backed by seven in 10 business, up to 75% of those with an opinion either way on the issues. 'Combined with other positive views about the impact of migration on the labour force and the economy, this should give political parties food for thought ahead of next year's election. 'Meanwhile, although the business community in Scotland is still rather more pessimistic than optimistic, the gap between the two has closed which gives some hope about the possibility of a more positive outlook ahead after a long, tough period for businesses.' John Penman, managing partner at 56° North said: 'Our last survey showed Reform, which is the most vocal party in terms of restricting immigration, were gaining support among business in Scotland, however these results show that many businesses are in favour of bringing skilled migrants into the Scottish workforce. 'Reform's continued strong showing in the polls may well mean this becomes a recurring theme in the run up to next year's Scottish election as parties seek to position themselves as best for economic growth.' Understanding Business surveyed more than 500 Scottish businesses across a range of sectors, including hospitality, agriculture, construction, and manufacturing.
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Why the case for a 'Scottish visa' just got stronger
But how long can the current state of affairs continue? Starmer has so far resisted calls from the Scottish Government to introduce a "Scottish visa" to help the country deal with the labour shortages it faces, but the issue is simply not going away. Indeed, it seems to be very much uppermost in the minds of many Scottish business owners. As exclusively revealed by The Herald today, 70% of businesses in Scotland support the introduction a tailored 'Scottish visa', according to the latest Understanding Business Survey, conducted by 56° and Diffley Partnership. Such a scheme which would allow migrants to come to work in Scotland, as long as they live and maintain a tax code in the country, and presumably ease the pressure on the many companies which have struggled with skills shortages since the end of freedom of movement. But this would not be unrestrained immigration. Asked what their most important considerations would be if a Scottish visa were introduced, the top two responses from businesses surveyed both related to protecting Scottish workers, with 37% each saying 'maintaining a balance between migrant workers and upskilling local talent' and 'protecting job opportunities for Scottish workers and preventing wage suppression' were important. Business also wanted to ensure that any visa scheme would be easy to navigate for both employers and workers, selected as a top consideration by 35%. Clearly, immigration remains a hot political topic, and with feelings continuing to run high on the topic Starmer's reluctance to implement any big policy changes is perhaps understandable. Especially given that Labour's stance on Brexit was writ large in its election manifesto last year. But for a Government that has made economic growth its central mission, and has now presided over a second consecutive month of GDP decline, it must surely be looking to all the levers it has at its disposal to stem the tide. A Scottish visa, targeted at sectors and companies suffering the most acute skills shortages, would be a step in the right direction.
