Hard or soft, Brexit will benefit Ashford

For Ashford a hard Brexit would mean it would become a frontier town in a similar way to the limited tax difference status Calais now has for the wine, beer and spirits traders.

Only it would be for all goods and on a much bigger scale with, most likely, bonded warehouses from Dover to Folkestone and all around Ashford to manage the logistics for goods for the UK.

This would be similar to the way goods entering the UK through ports such as Southampton have to clear customs and are held awaiting inspection and duties to be paid, only currently all the goods that come through Dover and the Channel Tunnel have already cleared EU customs somewhere else and get a free pass.

By leaving the customs union which is proposed in a hard Brexit scenario, Kent will become the default warehouse for all goods coming into the UK via the Channel Tunnel and Dover, especially if the French insist in pushing the border back to the UK which they have currently said they will, as otherwise there could have been an option to clear customs and duty in Calais.

Anyone who has been to Nijmegen in the Netherlands, where the Dutch operate a Free Port bonded warehouse system for freight coming into Rotterdam, will know this means miles and miles of warehouses covering the countryside and thousands of trucks.

Those who will benefit from either a soft or hard Brexit are the solicitors, accountants, tax advisers and small office space landlords, as thousands of foreign companies who have significant business interests and sales of their goods in the UK will be interested in establishing a base here.

They will want to take advantage of the 15% corporation tax which has been trailed for this spring’s Budget which means especially French companies wishing to take advantage of that option will likely want to be just this side of the border in either Folkestone or Ashford.

Also anyone who has been to El Paso or is familiar with what a customs frontier town such as those in France near Switzerland can be like will know that with there is a massive increase in daily migration and a huge increase in foreign workforce taking advantage of the different tax currency fluctuations using the cost of labour as the variable element.

As David Davis, the Brexit secretary, said at the Welsh CBI conference last month the government will not cut off immigration to the detriment of British companies. It is likely some kind of visa or Green Card system will be introduced, allowing people from the EU to remain and come here as long as they are working. So for Ashford yes, a hard Brexit will dramatically change the landscape of Kent due to being out of the Customs Union, while remaining in the Customs Union will also benefit Ashford but without all the warehouses and truck parks. Adrian Gee-Turner Ashford is printed a lot of people will retaliate with the answer, “If you do not like it that much move out” but that is not the answer. I was brought up with values to live with. I have strived to achieve what used to be perceived as socially acceptable standards. On that basis, I have served this country and only drawn the dole for two weeks of my working life.

If I had not been able to work and pay my bills I would fall in the government pigeon hole of not caring. I think I have more than earned the right to complain.

I love the fact there is a new college campus to be opened in the town centre in the autumn of 2017, but I don’t like the fact that the people that will get most benefit from it will be foreign nationals and the indigenous population will have to jump through hoops to be entitled to the same opportunities.

Is it any wonder Brexit looked so appealing to 17 million voters? Adrian Cussens Ashford

Ashford College