Javid doles out £2bn more to speed up the push to quit the EU without a deal
NEW Chancellor Sajid Javid will today release an extra £2.1billion from the Treasury in an attempt to dramatically accelerate the Government’s preparations for a no-deal Brexit this autumn.
With no sign of the deadlock between Downing Street and Brussels being broken, Mr Javid is to double the money available for ensuring the UK can withstand a full break with the EU to £4.2billion.
It will include £1.1billion for immediate spending on extra border guards, stockpiling vital medicines and a massive publicity blitz aimed at households and businesses.
Mr Javid will also set aside a further £1billion for a reserve fund to cover contingencies as the Brexit deadline of October 31 approaches.
Speaking last night, he said: “It’s vital we intensify our planning to ensure we are ready. We want to get a good deal that abolishes the anti-democratic backstop. But if we can’t get a good deal, we’ll have to leave without one.
“This additional £2.1billion will ensure we are ready to leave on October 31 – deal or no deal.”
The cash boost raises the total the Treasury has made available for Brexit to £6.3billion.
In his first spending announcement in his new role, the Chancellor will set out details of his £1.1billion package for immediate preparations.
The sum is to include £344million to help get new border and customs operations ready.
Home Office chiefs will be able to recruit an extra 500 Border Force officers with the cash, taking the total of new personnel added to the service this year to more than 1,000.
Support for customs officers to train new staff or invest in new computer equipment to help businesses complete customs declarations is to be expanded.
Transport infrastructure around ports including measures to manage traffic disruption in Kent is to be improved.
Government helplines to provide businesses and holidaymakers with travel information will also be improved.
Mr Javid will also make £434million available to help ensure supplies of vital medicines and medical products do not run dry by increasing freight capacity, warehousing and stockpiling.
A further £138million is to be allocated for a public communications blitz to instruct households and businesses on how to prepare for a nodeal Brexit.
An information campaign based around media and online adverts is planned.
The Chancellor will also pledge £108million to promote and support businesses to ensure they are ready for Brexit.
Measures to help firms will include a national programme of business readiness and support for exporters to capitalise on new trading opportunities with countries outside the EU.
Cash from the £1billion reserve fund will be available to Whitehall departments and also the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which will also be able to apply for money should their areas face greater pressures than England.
Parliament’s spending watchdog yesterday promised an inquiry into the billions of pounds the Government is plunging into Brexit preparations. Meg Hillier, Labour chairwoman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, claimed there was “not enough time” to spend the cash effectively.
She said: “The Prime Minister is promising to throw hundreds of millions of pounds at Brexit as though that will solve his problems.
“With three months to go before 31 October there’s not enough time to spend this effectively – recruiting, training and delivering services takes more planning.
“The committee will be looking at how much is spent and what it actually delivers.”
Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: “This is an appalling waste of taxpayers’ cash, all for the sake of Boris Johnson’s drive towards a totally avoidable no-deal.
“This government could have ruled out a no-deal and spent these billions on our schools, hospitals, and people.”