MPs WARNED ABOUT CUSTOMS WITHDRAWAL FROM PORT

The security of Pembroke Port could be compromised if a decision to withdraw customs officers from the port is implemented, an influential group of MPs has been warned.

Members of the House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee were told by Milford Haven Port Authority that the HM Customs plan would mean the nearest officers to the port would be based in Cardiff, and valuable working relationships would be destroyed at a time when security was high on the national and international agenda.

Port Authority chief executive Ted Sangster expressed the organisation’s concern to the group – which included MPs Martyn Jones, Chairman of the Committee, Martin Caton, Nigel Evans and Julie Morgan – whilst it was on a fact-finding visit to Milford Haven to discuss the implications of the changes in the operation of Customs & Excise in Wales.

“The Government is seeking to address the issue of security by encouraging statutory and regulatory bodies to work closely together, but this proposal would force two key organisations apart,” said Mr Sangster.

“It helps us as an Authority, our customers and the shipping companies that we can have effective cross-discipline working and communication with Customs Officers because we work side by side - they feed into our approach to security as part of their normal operations.

“This close and valuable relationship creates a degree of trust and understanding which would be more difficult to maintain if they were no longer based in the port.

“A statutory, uniformed and visible presence which Customs Officers provide can only re-inforce what we are all seeking to do in managing the existing and the coming, more intensive, security regimes.”

The Committee were also shown the range of activities undertaken in Wales’s largest port and were able to see for themselves the sites for the two proposed LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) Terminals of Petroplus and Qatargas, which once they both come on stream will be providing over 30% of the UK’s gas requirements.

“We also took the opportunity to stress the importance of infrastructure improvements as being the bedrock of growth in the local economy, pointing out the importance of such issues as the need to dual the A40, provide more grant funding for important infrastructure projects and provide support for the LNG projects,” said Mr Sangster.

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