- Ports across the UK are set to receive less than half the funding requested from government for new Brexit checks next year, Yahoo Finance UK understands.
- Firms have requested £450m ($608m) to build new border inspection posts in line with government requirements, ahead of ‘most significant changes to imports in a generation.’
- New safety checks will be applied to EU food, plant and animal imports from July, which are expected to cause significant disruption to supply chains.
- Such checks are currently waived in both directions as the UK and EU follow the same standards within the single market.
- But the government only made £200m available in its port infrastructure fund (PIF) for such upgrades and has only allocated £194m this week, say several industry sources.
According to a recent news report in Yahoo Finance, written by Tom Belger, more than one in five bids is said to have been unsuccessful, with 12 rejected including five airports, and Dover receiving just £33,000. Felixstowe, at the centre of recent port chaos, reportedly received £13.1m, however.
Ports receive less funds
Every port is said to have received less than they requested, with officials reportedly turning down some bids, cutting others and then applying a 34% “haircut” to all successful bids.
Mike Seller, director of Portsmouth International Port, said it had not received the cash it requested for “the most significant changes to imports in a generation.”
“While we appreciate the allocation, this leaves Portsmouth with an £8m shortfall to implement the most critical changes, and omits significant parts of our proposals,” he said.
“Prior to the delays in determining the bid, we were already concerned about the timescale required to make sure we were ready by July. We have now been delayed by a further two weeks and are without any contingency and few options to secure additional funding.”
Allocations made public
A government spokesperson said allocations would be made public “shortly.”
“Our ports play a vital role in helping trade flow in and out of the UK and we are making significant preparations to ensure that they are ready for the new procedures coming into place.”
“The government has made an unprecedented £200m available to [orts to support new infrastructure – work that ports would normally have to fund themselves.”
The spokesperson also highlighted £470m of funding for in-land infrastructure to serve ports like Dover, which lack space to build it on site.
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Source: Yahoo Finance
