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'Passport to Kent' is latest attempt to prevent border chaos after a no-deal Brexit in January

Lorries Queing on The M20 because of Police checks at Dover Docks and the Channel Tunnel - Invicta Kent Media/ Shutterstock
Lorries Queing on The M20 because of Police checks at Dover Docks and the Channel Tunnel - Invicta Kent Media/ Shutterstock

Police patrols will turn away lorries entering Kent without a special access pass to ease border chaos caused by a no-deal Brexit on January 1, the Government admitted for the first time on Wednesday.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove, said police officers and number-plate recognition software would be used to enforce the Kent Access Permit once the transition period finishes at the end of this year.

It would minimise the risk of huge queues tailing back from the port of Dover, he said, but critics accused him of creating an "internal border" in the UK.

Michael Gove said there could be queues of 7,000 lorries with as many as 60 percent of lorries arriving without the necessary paperwork - Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images
Michael Gove said there could be queues of 7,000 lorries with as many as 60 percent of lorries arriving without the necessary paperwork - Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images

The permit will only be granted to lorries with the correct paperwork necessary to move onto EU territory after the end of transition and once Britain leaves the bloc's Single Market and Customs Union.

The Kent 'passport' will be introduced as part of the planned Smart Freight System, which will be introduced whether or not there is a deal.

Mr Gove said there could be queues of 7,000 lorries with as many as 60 percent of lorries arriving without the necessary paperwork in some scenarios.

"What we want to do is avoid the level of congestion that this reasonable worst-case scenario sets out," Mr Gove, who has warned logistic groups of possible two day delay for cargo travelling to France in January, said.

Asked about the prospect of tailbacks through Kent by local MP Damian Green, Mr Gove said: “If they don't have the material required, then it will be the case that through policing, ANPR cameras and other means, we'll do our very best to ensure that his constituents are not inconvenienced.”

Mr Gove who is responsible for no-deal Brexit planning, insisted the Government would do everything it could to get a free trade agreement with Brussels

“We’re absolutely determined to do everything we can to avoid no deal,” he said, “no deal is in nobody’s interest.”

Only 24 percent of businesses thought they were ready for the end of transition, Mr Gove said, while 43% of businesses still thought the period would be extended, even though the deadline for that passed in July.

Mr Gove said the no deal scenarios were not a prediction but something that could happen if preparations were not made in time for the deadline or “if our neighbours decline to be pragmatic".

The next full round of UK-EU trade negotiations takes place in Brussels next week and is seen as vital if the two sides are to meet the no deal deadline of the end of October.

Michel Barnier has said that deadline must be hit, if EU countries are to have time to ratify the agreement before the end of the transition. There remain divisions over the major stumbling blocks of fishing and the level playing field guarantees.

Mr Gove ruled out any implementation period after the transition period ended, which was an idea floated on Wednesday by Shankar Singham, a trade expert and ally of Boris Johnson.

A deal could be struck much closer to the end of transition than early October, and ratification pushed into next year through another implementation period, Mr Singham told Brexit Committee MPs.

He said: "The issue is can a political deal be done in the time, then there can be implementation periods and specific  periods to cover ratification, but no one is going to talk about this right now because we are still in a negotiation.

"If a political deal is done by even the end of the year, no lawyer in the Commission, or no legal process, is going to get in the way of finding a solution.”

An EU official also ruled out any implementation period and said that there would be customs controls at the border with the UK whether or not a free trade agreement was signed.

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier - Isabel Infantes/AFP
EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier - Isabel Infantes/AFP

Mr Barnier arrived in London on Wednesday for preliminary talks with David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator but refused to comment on the row over the Internal Market Bill.

The Bill, which overrides parts of the Withdrawal Agreement,  has overshadowed the trade negotiations because Brussels believes it breaks international law.

Both the EU and the UK have signalled that a row over whether or not Brussels would list UK food exports as safe to eat was over.

The dispute had led to accusations that the EU was threatening to blockade Northern Ireland, which Mr Barnier denied.