UK could 'throw open the borders' to avoid customs checks in event of no deal Brexit

Britain could "throw open the borders" to avoid customs checks in the event of a no deal Brexit under plans reportedly being considered in Whitehall.

Officials are reported to have discussed the possibility of not applying checks to lorries passing through ports in order to enable trade to flow in the event of the UK and the European Union failing to reach a customs agreement.

Under such a scenario the UK could decide not to enforce customs checks at the border and assume that the EU would follow suit.

The plans have been described by border operators as the “throw open the borders option”.

The Government has insisted that the Brexit deal it is seeking with Brussels would make trade "as frictionless...