The National Audit Office (NAO) said new border control systems could be used by organised criminals to commit fraud or smuggle goods by exploiting gaps in the UK’s border preparations in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Responding to this new information, Green Party MEP for the East of England, Catherine Rowett, said:
I was very concerned to read the National Audit Office’s assessment of the impact of a no-deal Brexit, in which they claimed that “it is impossible to know exactly what would happen at the border” in the event of the UK crashing out of the EU.
Given that new border control systems would have to be introduced, the report highlights the possibility that these systems could be used by criminals to commit fraud or smuggle goods. That does not sound like “taking back control”, such as the Leave campaign promised in 2016. It is ever more clear that few will benefit from a no-deal Brexit, but prominent among those few are potentially international criminals.