Contingency plans in place should Brexit talks fail

BRITAIN is drawing up contingency plans in case its Brexit negotiations with the EU fail, a minister said yesterday as speculation mounted that the withdrawal process could start this week.

Brexit Minister David Davis said it was in everybody’s interests that they got a good outcome, but added that the government was planning for all contingencies.

He was speaking after MPs warned that ministers must prepare for the possibility that, with EU treaties allowing just two years to agree to a new relationship, Britain might well leave without a deal.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said she was optimistic about settling the divorce and a new trade agreement with the EU within the timeframe, but would walk away rather than accept a bad deal.

The cross-party parliamentary foreign affairs committee said: “This represents a very destructive outcome leading to mutually assured damage for the EU and the UK,” citing economic losses and legal confusion.

Davis said he did not think that was remotely likely.

“There will be tough points in this negotiation. But it’s in absolutely everybody’s interests that we get a good outcome,” he said.

The MPs noted that the previous government had not prepared for the shock vote to leave the EU in the June referendum, something they called gross negligence.

“Making an equivalent mistake would constitute a serious dereliction of duty by the present administration,” they said.

A bill empowering May to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty and begin the withdrawal process returns to the House of Commons for debate today. Without opposition, it could pass the House of Lords that night.

After it is rubber-stamped by Queen Elizabeth, May could start Brexit at any point.

Asked when the process might start, Davis said: “In theory it’s the point at which you have royal assent”, but refused to confirm a date.