Our contingency plans for hard Brexit are in place, says France

FRANCE has triggered contingency plans for a hard Brexit, as its prime minister warned that a no-deal scenario was “less and less unlikely”.

After a Cabinet meeting in the wake of Theresa May’s parliamentary defeat on her EU divorce deal, Edouard Philippe said: “The scenario of a nodeal Brexit is less and less unlikely … I have decided to trigger the plan for a no-deal Brexit.”

In it, he earmarked £44million for French ports and airports. “In some ports that will be the construction of car parks, in others it will be the establishment of infrastructure for carrying out checks,” said Mr Philippe. His government is to hire 580 more government employees, including vets and customs officers, to manage cross-border trade and security.

The UK Parliament massively rejected Mrs May’s Brexit deal with the European Union on Tuesday night. Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, immediately called for a no-confidence vote, but Mrs May’s government survived that on Wednesday night.

The French Senate was last night completing the adoption of a bill allowing the government to take emergency measures, by decree if necessary, from March 30 in the event Britain leaves without a deal. The legislation was approved by the lower National Assembly on Wednesday.

“We want to be ready to protect the interests of our citizens,” Mr Philippe said. “Our objective is to respect our obligations, to make sure the lives of our citizens and, in a way, British citizens living in France, are impacted as little as possible.”

He said the government was also preparing a plan to support France’s fishing industry, “which risks being hit hard”.

France’s no-deal Brexit bill includes five decrees. The first ring-fences certain rights of Britons living in France. On condition of reciprocity, Britons can “continue living in France without a stay permit” for 12 months, during which time they can apply for authorisation to remain in the country. It will “preserve the social rights” they have accrued until Brexit, allow British companies settled in France in regulated sectors to remain, along with Britons employed as civil servants in France.

A second decree triggers emergency work required for stricter border customs checks.

A third allows British-based companies to continue “road transport operations in France” and deliver security clearance between Calais and Dover.

A fourth permits “the continuation of certain financial activities, in terms of insurance, following the loss of Britain’s financial passport”.

A fifth authorises “the pursuit of defence equipment transfers between France and Britain”.

The prime minister’s office said the measures were needed to “preserve the European common market while maintaining the greatest possible fluidity of goods and people”.

A French government spokesman said: “Brexit will be a change but we are determined to maintain an excellent level of integration between our two countries.”