London's 'Wishful Thinking' Threatens UK Border Security – British MP

The approach currently adopted by the British government towards border security may leave the country vulnerable when it formally secedes from the European Union, a senior UK MP has warned.

UK Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier said that “government preparations for Brexit assume that leaving the EU will present no additional border risks, from freight or passengers, which she characterized as little more than "wishful thinking.”

"This approach, in the context of what continues to be huge uncertainty about the UK’s future relationship with the EU, might generously be described as cautious. But against the hard deadline of Brexit it is borderline reckless – an over-reliance on wishful thinking that risks immediately exposing the UK to an array of damaging scenarios," Hillier said, according to the Independent.

She pointed out that some 300 million people and 500 million metric tons of freight crossed the British border in 2016, and that the number of decisions “about people or goods crossing could more than treble and more than quadruple, respectively” following Brexit.

Meanwhile, the UK Revenue and Customs department claims that the new customs system, which is expected to be completed by January 2019, will be able to accommodate this projected increase in demand.

During a referendum that was held on June 23, 2016, about 51.9 percent of Britons voted for their country leaving the bloc.