British told to holiday in Portugal instead of France
Portugal could enjoy an upswing in visitors from the UK after a minister and secretary of state advised tourists to shun France as cross-channel queues at borders have made the country the “holiday destination from hell” according to The Telegraph.
Thérèse Coffey, the Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions criticised the actions of the French for not putting on enough border officers, saying that last weekend’s delays were “unacceptable”.
She told Times Radio that it is “a lot harder to get in and out of France than it is to get in and out of Portugal” and said that systems had worked “a lot more smoothly elsewhere”.
Not only that, cabinet Minister Jacob Reece Mogg said “we should always be friendly to the Portuguese”, so the British should go on holiday in Portugal instead of France.
The Secretary of State for Brexit made his suggestion on Friday that instead facing long queues at Calais and other UK-France crossing points “the British should go to Portugal”.
“The French are not getting enough people to manage the extra booths (passport control) that have been put in by the Port of Dover to ensure that it all runs smoothly. But if the French decide that they don’t want to put in enough immigration officers that are needed, then there will be queues.
“This was a decision made by the French, and it’s worth noting that the Portuguese have allowed the British to use E-gates to get into Portugal, so maybe people will find it is easier to go on holiday in Portugal”.
Jacob Reece-Mogg went on to stress that Portugal is “our oldest ally”…. with “the Treaty of Windsor 1386, so we should always be very friendly towards the Portuguese”.