Situating a border control post 22 miles from the actual border was flagged as a potential problem when it was first proposed. Fast forward to today and data provided to the Commons EFRA Committee reveals that those initial fears were well founded.

According to Defra, 18% of all consignments of imported meat selected for inspection in November last year never made it to the Sevington Border Control Post after leaving Dover port; instead choosing to bypass the checks altogether.

Alistair Carmichael, Chair of the EFRA Committee characterised it as a “dysfunctional system”. It also emerged that, due to data being held across different authorities and datasets, thee are inconsistencies and gaps in the data which mean that follow-up checks on the consignments that by-passed Sevington could not be accurately recorded or enforced. Anecdotal accounts in the FT article’s comments section would seem to support this.

But Ashford Port Health Authority claim that the EFRA Committee, in their criticism, have selectively highlighted the worse facts. Corporate Director of Health and Wellbeing, Anthony Baldock commented: “We were disappointed that EFRA chose to issue a statement that presented just a portion of the facts.” As an aside, Ashford Borough Council announced last week that they have developed “the UK’s first fully automated AI‑driven import document checking system” to deal with the highest volume of commercial freight in the UK. This means they are able to hold current official controls charges for 2026/7 at current prices.

Mr Baldock added that “the figures EFRA chose to release were somewhat misleading as they reference only one element of the multiple lines of defence within the UK’s import controls regime across Border Control Posts. Further action can also be taken by Defra outside of these processes. It is for this very reason that a multi-agency approach is taken. It is important to note even where loads may not have arrived, further action by way of the local authority is always taken to control any SPS risks.”

Defra’s Permanent Secretary Paul Kissack and his colleagues were questioned by the EFRA Commitee on the problem of lorries avoiding Sevington and on the new border security checks due to come in next year as part of the UK-EU realignment. BBC Farming Today have a useful round-up of that EFRA hearing (listen from 8:08 minutes).

You can read the EFRA Committee’s article on their hearing as well as the full document that Defra submitted to the group.

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