UK ‘will be ready for no deal Brexit’

out more than 4,600 fixed penalty notices and collected at least £773,000 for the offence in the year.

This came after the Government gave them new powers to issue “on the spot” fines in May 2016. ROUTINE operations could “cease for several months” if hospitals have to deal with a major flu outbreak this winter, an expert has warned.

Planned, or elective, operations could be put on the back burner if the NHS struggles to deal with the additional demands of a bad flu season, the Society for Acute Medicine said.

NHS England boss Simon Stevens has warned of a “pressurised” flu season following a heavy outbreak in the Southern Hemisphere. WORKERS from plane manufacturer Bombardier are pressing the Government to take urgent action to help secure their jobs in the face of mounting concerns over a trade dispute with the US.

They unfurled a huge banner opposite Parliament and met MPs to warn of the impact on jobs across the UK if the dispute is not resolved. Bombardier, which employs more than 4,000 workers in Belfast, has been hit by a proposed 80 per cent levy on exports following complaints by Boeing that the Canadianowned company had dumped its C Series jets at “absurdly low” prices.

Business Secretary Greg PHILIP Hammond has indicated he is ready to spend large sums to get Britain ready for a “no deal” Brexit, as it emerged that £250 million has already been allocated for EU withdrawal preparations.

The Chancellor said there was a “need for speed” from the other 27 EU nations in agreeing a transition to the post-Brexit era, both to deliver certainty for businesses and to avoid wasteful government spending on contingency planning.

Delays in beginning talks on the future UK/EU trading relationship – caused by Brussels’ insistence that the divorce deal must be settled first – were creating a “cloud of uncertainty” which was acting as a damper on the UK economy, he said.

Mr Hammond used an article in a national newspaper to say that he was not yet ready to turn on the tap for spending on infrastructure, like lorry parks at Channel ports, which may be needed if the UK and EU fail to reach an agreement by the official Brexit date of March 2019.

Spending money now on Brexit preparations would divert cash away from priorities like the NHS, social care and education, and the investment may turn out to be Clark has told MPs the complaint brought by Boeing is completely unjustified and the UK will do everything it can to see the issue resolved.

As part of those efforts, Prime Minister Theresa May stressed in a phone call with US President Donald Trump “the importance of the jobs provided by the Bombardier unnecessary if talks in Brussels result in a good deal, he said.

But he later told MPs that the Treasury was “prepared to spend when we need to spend” on contingency plans for “no deal” outcomes including a possible “bad-tempered breakdown” in negotiations.

The Government would need to decide at some point what was the “realistic” worst case it needed to plan for, but it would wait until the “last point” before committing funds, he said.

It was “theoretically conceivable” that planes could be grounded at UK airports on day one of Brexit, though nobody “seriously believes that that is where we will get to”, he told the Commons Treasury Committee. factory to the people and economy of Northern Ireland”.

But Steve Turner, assistant general secretary of the Unite union, said phone calls were not enough. Unite wants Mrs May to summon Boeing to a summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and workforce representatives. Theresa May told MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons that £250 million has already been committed from Treasury reserves for Brexit preparations by government departments including environment, transport, the Home Office and HM Revenue & Customs during this financial year.

“We are preparing for every eventuality, we are committing money to prepare for Brexit, including a no-deal scenario,” the PM told MPs.

“Where money needs to be spent, it will be spent.”

The announcement was hailed as “great” by Suella Fernandes, chairwoman of the influential European Research Group of Brexit-backing MPs.

European Council president Donald Tusk indicated on Tuesday that he does not expect EU leaders to give a green light for the opening of talks on trade and transition at a crunch summit in Brussels next week, and suggested the move may even be delayed beyond the end of this year.

But Mr Hammond said businesses need certainty as soon as possible in order to make investment decisions.