Britain outlines plans for ‘unlikely’ no-deal Brexit

London: Britain has outlined plans for managing the fallout in the “unlikely” scenario of Brexit talks collapsing, warning that businesses faced more customs red tape and consumers risked higher card payment charges.

Brexit Minister Dominic Raab also said yesterday that Britain would adopt a series of European Union rules in case of a no-deal to allow EU imports in and urged Brussels to do the same for British goods.

Raab said Britain would continue to recognise batch testing and EU certifications for medicine to avoid disruption, but said the government would in any case stockpile medicines for an extra six weeks on top of the existing period of three months.

Raab insisted that he was “still confident” of reaching an agreement with the EU ahead of its planned departure on March 29, 2019 and that the failure of talks was “unlikely”.

“I remain confident that a good deal is within our sights, and that remains our top, and overriding, priority,” Raab said at a speech in London as the government published the first of a series of “technical notices” to advise different sectors of the economy on how to handle negotiations collapsing.

“If the EU responds with the same level of ambition and pragmatism, we will strike a strong deal that benefits both sides. However, we must be ready to consider the alternative.

“In some cases, it means taking unilateral action to maintain as much continuity as possible in the short term, in the event of no deal -- irrespective of whether the EU reciprocates.”

In the scenarios outlined by the government, Britons were warned of possible “increased costs and slower processing times” for euro transactions and told that “the cost of card payments between the United Kingdom and the EU will likely increase”.

Consumers may also have to pay more for online shopping and cross-border payments would also no longer be covered by a “surcharging ban” under EU rules, the technical notices said.