Government ‘won’t be ready’ for no deal by deadline
The UK will not be fullyprepared to leave the European Union without a deal on 31 October, senior insiders in the Brexit department have admitted.
Particular fears within the Department for Exiting the European Union (DEXEU) centre around the sharing of data between the UK and the EU with fears it could grind to a halt in a no-deal Brexit.
Boris Johnson, the strong favourite to be named the next prime minister this morning, has committed to pulling the UK out of the bloc “do or die, come what may” on Halloween. Preparations are being accelerated for a disorderly departure, with civil servants across Whitehall primed to step up to help with contingency plans from September.
But sources have said that because of the change at the top of government, key decisions have not been made at Cabinet level. The government believes it is better prepared to leave without an agreement than it was in March. However, there are several areas that will be nearly impossible to prepare for.
A source said: “We are more ready for no-deal now than we were in March, but you can never have everything right. There is always more to do and things that are outstanding that it would be good to have sewn up when the time comes such as data sharing.
“Civil servants will be stepped up again for a no-deal Brexit. But there have been decisions such as on funding that need to be taken at a Cabinet level that have not been and really need to be.”
The UK was among the first adopters of new EU rules on data protection, but should it leave without a deal it would automatically be given third country status, which would dramatically restrict the transfer of data between companies in the UK and EU.
Without a swift EU-UK agreement in the event of a no-deal Brexit, companies on both sides of the Channel would find trading severely hindered.
It comes as senior sources within the Home Office expressed fears that Mr Johnson’s tough language on a no-deal Brexit will place the security of the country at risk as the UK will lose all access to European Arrest Warrants.
Labour’s Stephen Doughty, a supporter of the People’s Vote campaign and member of the home affairs select committee, attacked the lack of planning.
“Not only is it increasingly clear that the government is woefully unprepared for a disastrous no-deal crash out of the EU on 31 October, but for any prime minister to impose this on the country without any kind of mandate for it from the general public would be a disgrace to democracy,” Mr Doughty said.
Mr Johnson yesterday demanded the country show its “can-do spirit” when it came to Brexit, stating that if it was possible to send people to the moon, then leaving the EU should be achievable.
DEXEU was contacted for comment. The list of areas that are still outstanding ahead of a no-deal Brexit is still growing.
The most obvious is the matter of a hard border on the island of Ireland, which both Brussels and Westminster have said they want to avoid, but as yet remains unanswered in the event of a hard Brexit.