UK tells supermarkets to maximise stockpiles
Theresa
May’s government has told supermarkets to keep as much stock as possible in warehouses around the country in case the UK crashes out of the EU without a Brexit deal, a senior official said.
A no-deal Brexit would cut the capacity of the country’s main EU trading route from the French port of Calais to Dover in southeast England to just 13% of the current level because of additional border checks, according to the person, who is familiar with the contingency plans and asked not to be named because they haven’t been published.
As such, the government is trying to get new ways to get products into the country, the person said. Measures include in the short term drawing up a list of priority goods, with medicines top of the list, they said.
In the medium term, officials are contracting more cargo space aboard ships and looking at expanding the capacity of ports such as Sheerness.
With Parliament looking almost certain to reject Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal in a crucial vote on Tuesday, ministers and government departments are stepping up planning for a no-deal exit from the bloc. That’s because it’s the default path if the premier can’t get an agreement approved by lawmakers.
The official said the issue of how to prioritise goods throws up some conundrums for ministers, including whether to favour bags of perishable lettuce over critical parts for power stations, or auto components needed to keep factories running and hundreds of thousands of people in work.
Supermarkets have been told of the likely problems at Dover and asked to stockpile what they can, the official said, though some products are perishable and can’t be stored for long periods.
There’s also an issue around medicines. Because of a shortage of the necessary temperature-controlled storage space, not all can be stockpiled, the person said.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told BBC radio on Friday his department is buying refrigeration units to enable some drugs to be stockpiled.
Mr Hancock also said preparations are being made to fly medicines in and fasttrack trucks with medical supplies.
“We are working on ensuring that we have aviation capacity,” he said.