BOLTON West MP Chris Green has called for the end of “project fear” after assurances from the French port of Calais that there will be no extra checks on lorries if Britain leaves the EU without a deal in March.

Port boss Jean-Marc Puissesseau said that Calais had been preparing for Brexit for a year and would be ready to cope when the UK leaves the EU on March 29.

He said he was “shocked” by the “disrespectful” decision by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to spend more than £100 million on ferry services from alternative ports to ease the pressure on the Dover-Calais route.

Mr Green, who quit his role as a Transport Department aide in protest over Brexit, said: “Looks like trade with EU business post-Brexit, will be fine so let’s stop with project fear.”

Mr Puissesseau comments come days after a leaked report suggested that delays of as little as 70 seconds per truck at Dover could cause traffic jams which would take six days to clear. And they follow a Government exercise to trial the use of Manston airfield in Kent as a holding centre for trucks.