Brexit: Tories hope bank holiday weekend will mask chaos of new border checks system [Video]

The director general of Britain’s leading trade body has described Tory ministers as “smart” for using the bank holiday weekend to mask the impact of a new Brexit border checks system, which is set to add delays, red tape and costs to many imports.

Marco Forgione, director general of the Institute of Export and International Trade (IoE&IT), was commenting on the second phase of the controversial new border target operating model (BTOM) system to check animal and plant exports, which was introduced on Wednesday (30 April).

There have already been reports of garden centres and other businesses “stockpiling” plants and goods to avoid the initial chaos of the system, which was brought in as a result of Brexit.

Mr Forgione told The Independent: “The government …