No deal passport warning
PASSPORT offices will be swamped with renewal applications in the event of a ‘no deal’ Brexit, government papers suggest.
A leaked report says that if Britain leaves the EU without an agreement, any passport due to expire within six months would be invalid for travel within the EU.
It would see thousands of British holidaymakers turned away at ports and airports.
Whitehall sources warn this would spark chaos at passport offices. They claim the Home Office is ‘nowhere near prepared’ and say the paper has ‘set alarm bells ringing’ among ministers.
TENS of thousands of holidaymakers could be stopped from travelling to the continent if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, Government papers suggest.
Anyone whose passport has less than six months to run faces being turned away at borders when existing rules become obsolete overnight at the end of next March.
Under current arrangements, Britons can travel to Europe as long as their passport is valid to the end of their stay. But in the event of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit they would in all likelihood be treated like travellers from non-EU countries.
As a result, any passport without at least six months left before it expired would be invalid for travel. That could mean a glut of applications for passport renewals.
One Whitehall source warned there could be chaos at the passport office if it had to process a vast number of new documents in such a short time frame. The source said the Home Office was ‘nowhere near prepared’
‘Aircraft could be grounded’
and the paper had ‘set alarm bells ringing’ among ministers.
Travellers with dogs and cats will also need to get a rabies test signed off by a vet before they can take their pet abroad, because the current pet passport scheme will also become invalid after the exit date.
The warnings are contained in one of the technical notices on ‘no deal’ which are due to be published by officials tomorrow.
Theresa May has convened a special three-hour Cabinet meeting to discuss preparations for talks collapsing without agreement.
Ministers will be briefed on Operation Yellowhammer, Whitehall’s code name for no-deal contingency planning. Chancellor Philip Hammond is also likely to face demands from his colleagues for more cash from his £3billion no-deal fund to make sure they are ready.
The documents will spark fresh claims from Eurosceptics about scaremongering by Downing Street in an attempt to generate support for Mrs May’s Chequers plan.
The papers are likely to set out the possibility of extensive delays at ports and airports.
Significant focus is on Dover and the prospect of the M20 becoming clogged up with lorries if there are delays at the port.
Last night a senior government source said the technical notice on passports was a ‘worst case scenario’.
Ministers are preparing to take unilateral steps wherever possible to avoid chaos.
The extent of the problems would depend on how the EU responds and whether it takes similar steps.
Last night the British aerospace industry warned air travel could grind to a halt because the European Commission has refused to start talks on an aviation ‘back up’ deal.
ADS, which represents the sector, has written to Brussels officials warning aircraft could be grounded and accused them of undermining safety by blocking talks between regulators.
Paul Everitt, chief executive of ADS, said the UK’s own Civil Aviation Authority had already had ‘detailed talks’ with the US, Canada and Brazil.
Special preparations have been made to ensure the Grand National can go ahead in the event of ‘no deal’.
The Aintree race would take place only days after Brexit next year. Currently the transit of horses between France, Ireland and the UK is governed by a deal which would lapse if Britain crashes out. Officials have indicated they will wave horses in without formal checks to ensure there is no disruption to the racing industry.