Britain delays Brexit border checks for goods coming from Europe

“It’s probably the right thing to do but it points to some political failings because it was very predictable,” said Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Center for European Reform, a research institute based in London, referring to the government’s announcement Thursday. “Clearly the infrastructure isn’t in place to allow for full inspections in July.”

“There is already quite a lot of disruption with only 50 per cent of the controls in place,” said Mr. Lowe, “I wonder if the government has looked at this and said, ‘We can do without having another problem like this right now.’”

...But Mr Lowe, the analyst, said that British preparations for Brexit had been hampered by political considerations and by the government’s desire to present the policy in a positive light. That meant that companies were given little information about the volume of red tape until late in the process.

“To prepare properly was to acknowledge that from an economic perspective Brexit was a bad idea and to acknowledge that it meant that businesses would face problems,” he said.