Police chiefs say that dealing with the impact of a ‘no deal’ Brexit on the county could have cost nearly £20m over just three months.

The estimated costs would have included the need for extra police to be deployed around the ports to deal with disruption and delays caused by longer customs checks and managing the implementation of different stages of Operation Brock - the scheme to keep traffic moving along the M20 London bound carriageway.

It would also have reflected possible overtime for Kent Police and other forces brought in to help operations.

A Freedom of Information request by Kent Online has revealed the force put the overall estimated costs at close to £20m and had submitted a bid to the government to meet those costs.

In its response to the FOI, Kent Police said Operation Brock “was only an element of our wider contingency plans which were subject of a bid to the Home Office for additional financial support.”

A spokesman said: "Kent Police estimated the additional costs for the initial three months in terms of policing the implications of a ‘no deal’ EU Exit in Kent, including mutual aid support from other forces as £19,549,878. To date the force has received £4.3m from the Home Office but that position remains under review given the current uncertainty.”

Policing minister Nick Hurd announced in March that the Home Office was giving Kent Police an additional £3.5m on top of money it had already allocated to help meet the costs of preparing for a“no-deal Brexit.”

He said the money would go some way to reflect the additional workload the force could expect in the event of a ‘no-deal Brexit.’

However, the gap between what the Home Office announced and estimated actual costs was much wider.

At the time of the announcement Matthew Scott, the Kent crime commissioner, said: “This contingency planning has cost the force a great deal of money. It has required a redirection of officers’ and staff members’ time in order to focus on planning for Brexit rather than the other demands and challenges that they face in policing the county.”

Assistant Chief Constable Peter Ayling said: "It has been recognised by the Home Office that Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union has had, and will continue to have, significant impact on the county of Kent due to its geographical location.

“As a result, Kent Police has sought to recover EU Exit-related costs incurred by the force as a result of its contingency planning."

To date, the force has received £4.3m from the Home Office and the situation will remain under regular review until the terms of Britain’s EU withdrawal are ratified.’

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