Brits get tips to deal with Brexit

CHANGES: ‘NO DIVORCE’ DEAL WOULD BE DISRUPTIVE

Recent signals have buoyed hopes that an amicable agreement can be reached.

Britain published advice to businesses and the public yesterday about how to cope with the disruption that exiting the European Union without a divorce deal would cause to everything from mobile phone roaming charges to vehicle standards.

Recent signals from Brussels have buoyed hopes that the United Kingdom and the EU can agree and approve a proper divorce agreement before the UK leaves on March 29, though the sides are still divided on about one-fifth of the detail of a deal.

But many business chiefs and investors fear politics could scupper a deal, thrusting the world’s fifth-largest economy into a so called “no-deal” Brexit that they say would weaken the West, spook financial markets and silt up the arteries of trade.

Britain has stepped up planning for the effects of such a departure and yesterday afternoon published 28 technical notices on the impact on areas including customs and borders, competition, fisheries and aviation.

Brexit minister Dominic Raab said a no-deal Brexit was unlikely, but that the United Kingdom would manage the challenges and eventually flourish.

“With six months to go until the UK leaves the European Union, we are stepping up our ‘no deal’ preparations so that Britain can continue to flourish, regardless of the outcome of negotiations,” Raab said.

“These technical notices are part and parcel of our sensible, pragmatic approach to preparing for all outcomes.”

Both sides need an agreement to keep trade flowing between the world’s biggest trading bloc and the United Kingdom, home to one of the world’s top two financial capitals.

“Getting a deal with the European Union is still by far and away the most likely outcome,” Raab said.

But the other 27 members of the EU combined have about five times the economic might of Britain. They also have a strong incentive to deny the UK a deal so attractive it might encourage others to follow the British example.

As May tries to clinch a deal with Brussels, she is facing rebels in her Conservative Party, who say they will vote down any deal that fails to deliver a sharp break with the EU.

Raab, speaking to BBC radio, said he did not believe May’s government would lose a vote in parliament on the deal.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, said on Monday that a Brexit deal was possible “within six or eight weeks”. –