Jacob Rees-Mogg has said that there would be no need for customs checks at Dover on EU imports in the event of a no-deal Brexit, suggesting that any delays for exports to Europe would be France’s responsibility.

The leading Conservative party Brexiter said checks would not be needed because EU goods could be trusted.

However, his vision was immediately dismissed by legal experts as a breach of World Trade Organization rules because it would amount to discriminatory practice.

In a phone-in on London radio station LBC he told a concerned caller from the Kent town that he had no need to worry.



“The delays will not be at Dover, they will be at Calais,” Rees-Mogg told him, claiming that the French would have to conducts checks under EU law, but the UK would not as it would have taken back control of its borders.

Nathaniel, who did not give his surname, called to ask Rees-Mogg when the government was going to “take seriously” the problems local people would face with congestion if there is no deal. He said locals had already dubbed the government’s plans “Operation Stack on steroids”, a reference to the existing scheme which is put in place in the event of disruption.



Rees-Mogg, who is head of the European Research Group of MPs, told him: “There will be no need to have any delays on goods coming in from the continent in the event we leave with no deal, because goods that are safe on 29 March will be safe on 30 March and that means inbound traffic ought not to suffer any delays because it will be our choice.”

He also claimed that if the French insisted on checks, lorries could divert to other ports in Europe.

“If we leave without a deal and the French say your goods can’t come in via Calais, which is possible, but then there are other ports and Rotterdam and Antwerp have been increasing their infrastructure and taking on more customs officers,” he said.



His vision was dismissed as confused by the British Ports Association.



“It is difficult to see a situation where food and other products could be legally imported from another customs territory without being subject to some kind of border check. We understand that government may choose to waive these in event of no deal but we are not sure of the basis of that decision. Presumably that would be an emergency option and it is certainly not a comfortable fallback position in the medium or long term,” said Richard Ballantyne, the BPA’s chief executive.

Legal experts also questioned Rees-Mogg’s claims and said they could break WTO rules.

“The basic idea that we will check non-EU goods but not check EU if there is no trade deal done with the EU or a customs union agreement will violate the basic rules of the WTO, because that would be deemed discriminatory,” said Steve Peers, professor or law at the University of Essex and EU law expert.

Ah. Rees-Mogg believes that in a no-deal scenario, the UK would still check non-EU goods, but would unilaterally waive checks on EU goods. Hard to see how this would be compatible with WTO law. https://t.co/RkN1gTs14n — Steve Peers (@StevePeers) June 11, 2018

Quite apart from the “narrow” issue of customs checks, there would also be an issue for suppliers such as car manufacturers because some “parts go back and forth across the channel several times”, Peers added.