英国脱欧边检设施至少1亿英镑打水漂：七处内陆边检站五处从未启用
伦敦 — 英国税务海关总署（HMRC）应信息公开申请披露的数字显示，英国为脱欧后检查欧盟货物新建的七处内陆边检设施至少耗费1亿英镑纳税人资金，其中五处从未投入运行便被关闭或闲置，被英媒称为「僵尸边检站」。相关数字11月8日经英国《卫报》披露，再次引发对当年脱欧边境准备工作的质疑。
这些设施原定对来自欧洲大陆的货物实施检查，但当时的保守党政府在检查方案上反复摇摆，最终认定欧盟食品与英国标准相同、不必全套查验，五处设施因此没等到启用的一天。未启用的站点包括设在机场停车场的伯明翰站，以及 Warrington、Ebbsfleet 与 North Weald 等站。
仍在运行的两处中，肯特郡的 Sevington 内陆边检设施距多佛港约20英里，是英国最主要的脱欧边检站：政府此前披露其资本成本达1.54亿英镑，其中征地约3,000万英镑、建设约7,000万英镑；HMRC 此次披露其运营成本已达1.79亿英镑。另一处在运行的是威尔士 Holyhead 站，征地1,400万英镑、建设2,300万英镑。
由市议会拥有的 Portsmouth 港耗资2,300万英镑建成边检站，却从未满负荷使用。港口负责人 Mike Sellers 说，该站如今平均每天只查约两辆拖车，而原设计是每天80辆，站点前途未定。英国国家审计署此前估计，脱欧的整体成本约为47亿英镑，其中2020-21至2023-24年度用于货运边境基础设施的支出约7.11亿英镑。
（来源：英国税务海关总署）
UK Wasted at Least £100m on 'Zombie' Brexit Border Posts: Five of Seven Inland Facilities Never Operated
LONDON — Figures released by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) under freedom of information requests show that the seven inland border facilities Britain built to check goods from the European Union after Brexit cost taxpayers at least £100 million, and five of them never became operational before being closed or left idle — 'zombie border posts,' as British media have called them. The figures were reported by The Guardian on November 8, renewing questions over the border preparations of the Brexit years.
The facilities were built to inspect goods arriving from the continent, but the Conservative government of the day vacillated over the checking regime and ultimately concluded that EU food met the same standards as British food, so the full checks were never implemented and five sites never saw their first day of operation. The unused sites include Birmingham, in an airport car park, as well as Warrington, Ebbsfleet and North Weald.
Of the two sites still operating, the Sevington inland border facility in Kent, about 20 miles from the Port of Dover, is Britain's principal Brexit border post: the government previously disclosed capital costs of £154 million, including about £30 million to acquire farmland and about £70 million to build, and HMRC has now disclosed operational costs of £179 million. The other operating site is Holyhead in Wales, which cost £14 million to acquire and £23 million to build.
Portsmouth Port, owned by the city council, spent £23 million building its border control post, which has never been used at full capacity. Port director Mike Sellers said the facility now averages around two trailer checks a day, compared with the 80 originally envisaged, and its future is uncertain. The National Audit Office previously estimated the overall cost of Brexit at about £4.7 billion, including some £711 million spent on freight border infrastructure between 2020-21 and 2023-24.
(Source: HM Revenue and Customs)
来源：英国税务海关总署
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：位于英国肯特郡 Ashford 附近的 Sevington 内陆边检设施（Tim Sheerman-Chase 摄）。CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Sevington Inland Border Facility near Ashford, Kent, England (Tim Sheerman-Chase). CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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