France says it is ‘not responsible for Brexit’ amid row over Dover travel chaos – as it happened

8.06pm BST

A summary of today's developments

• The French transport minister, Clément Beaune, has hit back at the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, who had demanded France fix the “avoidable and unacceptable” situation at Dover. In a tweet, Beaune said: “The French authorities are mobilised to control our borders and facilitate the traffic as much as possible. I discussed this constructively with my counterpart [Grant Shapps]. But France is not responsible for Brexit.”
• The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, who is running to become the next Tory leader and prime minister, reiterated her claims that France is to blame for logjams at Dover, claiming French authorities “had not put enough people on the border”. In an interview with Sky News, she appeared to reject the suggestion that Brexit was to blame, and said “a lack of resource” on the French side was causing the long queues.
• Pierre-Henri Dumont, a right-wing Republican MP whose constituency includes Calais, said there was “no need to blame French authorities for the traffic jams in Dover”. The delays were “an aftermath of Brexit”, Dumont tweeted. “We have to run more and longer checks.” The MP also accused London of having “rejected [a] few months ago a proposal to double the number of passport booths” for French police in Dover.
• Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, has said that extra checks needed since Brexit were causing longer transaction times at border control, after French politician Pierre-Henri Dumont blamed Brexit for the disruption seen on Friday.
• P&O Ferries said earlier this afternoon it is taking up to four hours to clear the relevant security checks at Dover, adding that if passengers miss their ferry, they will be booked on the next available crossing.
• Lucy Morton, professional officer for the ISU – the union for borders, immigration and customs staff, was asked on the BBC’s Today programme whether Brexit is to blame for more rigorous checks by French border officials. She said: “It’s certainly the case that the checks are more rigorous than they used to be. Prior to Brexit, there was a deemed right of entry. We weren’t in Schengen but there were still very minimal checks ... and frequently there were no French checks at all.”

7.34pm BST

Here is more from foreign secretary Liz Truss on the talks she held about the delays.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on delays at the UK-French border: pic.twitter.com/OvLNMoecrH

— Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) July 23, 2022

However, France government official Catherine Colonna’s take on the talks with Truss strikes a very different tone.

Bonne conversation avec @trussliz sur les difficultés de circulation près de Douvres. Nous avons salué la coopération entre services techniques compétents pour résorber les retards. Nécessité aussi d'améliorer les installations du port de Douvres. https://t.co/xCjVOjAg1k

— Catherine Colonna (@MinColonna) July 23, 2022

Updated at 7.37pm BST