Post-Brexit border control post to sit empty

A £51m border control post built to handle post-Brexit checks on imports will sit empty for now, Wales's deputy first minister said.

Huw Irranca-Davies said the facility at Parc Cybi near the port of Holyhead in Anglesey was commissioned last year to follow the post-Brexit requirements of border controls on imports, including live animals and goods such as food, from the EU.

The facility received £44m in funding from the UK government, and the border control post (BCP) is now nearing completion. It is set to be handed over to the Welsh government in the autumn.

But the post will sit empty for now following an announcement by the UK government that it was set to negotiate with the EU to exempt many imports of live animals and goods from sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks at the border, according to Mr Irranca-Davies.

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He said the Welsh government was committed to "ensuring an acceptable level of biosecurity protection over the interim period whilst the agreement is negotiated and implemented".

Although physical and identity checks on imports from the EU began in April 2024, Mr Irranca-Davies highlighted that no start date for SPS checks on imports from Ireland has been announced.

"I have decided not to proceed with the final commissioning and staffing of the Holyhead BCP, and not to take forward construction of BCPs at Fishguard and Pembroke Dock," Wales's deputy first minister said in a statement.

Mr Irranca-Davies added that he will "keep that decision under review until the final details of the agreement with the EU are known", at which point longer-term plans for the site would be made.

"In the meantime, it is crucial that it remains ready and available as a potential BCP facility," he said.

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Holyhead is the busiest ferry port on the Irish Sea, with over three-quarters of imports to Great Britain from Ireland.

Mr Irranca-Davies said the Welsh government remains committed to providing sufficient notice for traders and delivery partners "should any new border checks need to be introduced".