Brexit causing ‘chaos’ for us - town hall boss
GOVERNMENT incompetence is causing ‘chaos’ within councils that have been ordered to plan for Brexit, a town hall boss has warned.
Stockport council leader Alex Ganotis said local authorities had been told to prepare for leaving the EU in less than 50 days ‘without telling us what to plan for.’
He was speaking at the latest meeting of the combined authority with just 43 days left on the clock before March 29 and no clear plan in Westminster about what will happen.
Coun Ganotis said government had been very clear that councils were expected to plan, however, just not what they were planning for.
“There are six weeks left until we are due to leave the EU and the government clearly has no plan over crucial, crucial areas of the way this country is run and the way this country works,” he said.
Reeling off potential issues faced by councils, he said a government funding package for town halls was ‘far, far less’ than would be needed.
“So we are going to have to find funding within our own councils that we would have otherwise put to other uses in terms of frontline services,” he added.
The council has budgeted over £500,000 in case of a no-deal Brexit. Coun Ganotis told the recent Cabinet meeting that preparing for no-deal is a ‘prudent’ thing for the authority to do.
A Stockport Brexit Advisory Group has been established.