Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on ferry services from (a) Poole and (b) Portsmouth to the Channel Islands.

DfT, Border Delivery Group and Border Force have been working with ports and airports across the United Kingdom to ensure a joint understanding of the possible impacts of EU exit under a range of scenarios.

Meetings have been held with both with Poole and Portsmouth to discuss the range of possible impacts. Further work is underway with Portsmouth to understand any possible local traffic implications that could affect ferry services. While work is ongoing, we do not currently expect services from Poole to the Channel Islands to be affected at all, nor any significant adverse effect on those from Portsmouth to the Channel Islands.