UK blew £100m on Brexit border posts that never opened

Britain torched at least £100m of taxpayers' money on Brexit border inspection posts that never inspected anything. Fresh figures from HMRC, dragged into the open by a freedom of information request, show seven inland border facilities were built — and then quietly left to rot as ministers changed their minds about checking EU food imports. Five of the seven never reached operational stage at all.

Portsmouth took the hardest hit. The city council-owned port spent £23m on a border control post built to government specifications, only to see checks scaled back before it could run at full capacity. Government funding covered £17.1m, leaving the council £6m short — cash that could have gone to essential services, according to the Guardian. Port director Mike Sellers says the facility now handles about two trailer checks a day, against the 80 originally envisioned.

Then there is the site locals nicknamed "Dover white cliffs." The Department for Transport paid £21m to buy the land at Guston and dropped another £7m on ground works, including an archaeological dig for Roman remains. Total bill so far: £28m. Residents only learned of the plan on 31 December 2020, hours before the transition period expired. It is still a field.

Elsewhere the numbers pile up. Birmingham's facility, planned for an airport car park, cost £11m to build plus £6m to shut down, for £17m overall. Warrington's site on a former coach stop set taxpayers back £7m to buy, £9m to build and £1m to decommission, over fierce local opposition. Ebbsfleet's Eurostar car park conversion ran £4m with £6m in closure costs, and North Weald airfield off the M11 cost £3m to build and £2m to close.

The one main site that survived, at Sevington in Kent, came 20 miles inland and last minute — Dover's beauty status ruled out checks near the port. Capital costs there reached £154m, including £30m for farmland and £70m to build, while HMRC data puts operational costs at £179m. Holyhead, the second operational site, cost £14m to acquire and £23m to build.

Eurotunnel spent €50m (£41.7m) on truck-check infrastructure and €90m on passenger changes, including an entry and exit system France has never switched on. Portsmouth and other ports are now pushing the government for compensation as their facilities head for redundancy when the UK-EU deal kicks in. Sellers would rather repurpose the building than bulldoze it — but says the price tag is roughly the same either way.