Channel delay warnings prompt France talks call

Warnings of potential 12-hour delays at Channel ports during the summer holidays have prompted calls for fresh talks with France over border arrangements.

Kent MP Roger Gale raised the issue in an urgent question in the House of Commons about the impact of the European Union's Entry/Exit System (EES) on cross-Channel travel.

Gale said there was "chaos" at Dover, St Pancras railway station in London and the Channel Tunnel during the late May bank holiday weekend and warned further disruption could affect holidaymakers and freight traffic.

Home Office minister Alex Norris said the government was working closely with the EU and France to understand the impacts and minimise disruption.

Gale, Conservative MP for Herne Bay and Sandwich, said: "Given the predictions based upon bookings for the coming season, which starts in 10 days' time, the authorities are now predicting that it is likely there could be 12-hour delays to passengers and therefore accordingly to freight, which affects our business.

"That is simply not acceptable."

He called on the government to approach French authorities again "before it's too late", to suggest a waiver must be put in place before the summer holiday season, "so that we don't face again the chaos that we faced in May".

Norris said the government was advocating for the use of flexibilities within the scheme to minimise disruption.

He said the issue came down to a question of whether it was "prioritisation of flow or a prioritisation of compliance with the scheme itself".

The minister said: "We push very heavily, we will do every day between now and then… to make sure that the French use flexibility available to prioritise flow."

Norris said the government was actively engaging with France and the EU ahead of the summer period and had provided £3.5m to each port to help prepare for EES.

He said queues at the ports were "not unusual" and had been seen before EES was introduced.

The EES system is a digital border system that replaces manual passport stamping and passengers may be required to provide fingerprints and a photograph. It was rolled out from October 2025 and is now fully operational.

Port of Dover chief executive Doug Bannister has warned the port could "face repeated episodes of severe congestion" throughout the summer without more flexibility in EES.

He predicted that queuing cars will be "spilling out of the port onto the public highway for miles" unless something changes.

The port declared a "critical incident" during the May half-term period after waiting times reached four-and-a-half hours.

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