No-deal Brexit: Disruption at Dover 'could last six months'

[Glasgow]

Dover and other Channel ports face disruption for up to six months if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, ministers have said.

The "worst case scenario" warning comes after analysis of likely traffic flows, if customs checks are delayed.

Lorries carrying medicine could get priority at ports and planes used to fly in drugs, ministers said.

But Tory Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen said it was "Project Fear on steroids," ahead of Tuesday's big Brexit vote.

He told the BBC: "It's the last throw of the dice from the prime minister who is desperate to get MPs to vote for her withdrawal agreement."

The prime minister's claim that the alternative to the withdrawal agreement she has negotiated with the EU is a no-deal Brexit, has so far failed to convince many of her own MPs.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock was among ministers trying to promote the deal on Friday, ahead of Tuesday's Commons vote, which the PM is widely expected to lose.

He told the BBC: "I don't know how likely 'no deal' is. It is what happens automatically unless Parliament passes something else.

"I very strongly feel that the best thing for the country, not just for the health service but for the country as a whole, is for Theresa May's deal to pass."

Updated advice to government departments from officials warns there could be six months of reduced access and delays at Dover and Folkestone, if the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019 without a deal.