Dominic Raab: No-deal Brexit papers will not contain 'turmoil'
2 min read
Papers laying out how the UK will cope with crashing out of the EU without a Brexit deal will not contain the word “turmoil”, Dominic Raab said today.
The Brexit Secretary said the Government was putting in place emergency plans to stockpile medicines for six weeks and to keep the border in Northern Ireland open, among other things.
But Labour said Mr Raab was “scrabbling around” and argued it was too late in the day to be preparing for a no-deal Brexit.
The Government will today publish 25 ‘technical notices’ offering advice to business, public bodies and the public on how best to prepare for the possibility of Britain leaving the EU without a deal.
They will include information about nuclear regulation, medicines, pensions, financial services and a host of other issues, Mr Raab confirmed.
But he said it was important to avoid having the risks of a no-deal Brexit “blown out of proportion and out of context”.
“What we are going to do today is be honest about the risks, inform those affected… and give some guidance,” he told Radio 4’s Today programme.
He added: “I don’t think the word turmoil will appear in any of the technical notices. What we will do is set out the technical arrangements we can unilaterally put in place.”
And he said: “It’s quite right to say there will be risks and challenges and we need to manage the risks and address the challenges.
“There will also be opportunities so let’s have a balanced debate and put the unlikely scenario of a no-deal Brexit in some sort of context.”
'SCRABBLING AROUND'
But Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer said a deal was hoped for at the October EU summit and planning for failure should have been “last summer’s work”.
“What you would expect if there had been constructive, positive negotiations is the Government to say at this stage, with eight weeks to go, ‘we are nearly there, we are quietly optimistic’," he told Sky News.
“But we are not hearing that from Dominic Raab - we are hearing the opposite,”
He said Mr Raab was “scrabbling around ‘saying here’s some technical notices of what you might do in the eventuality that this all breaks down and we have the serious consequences of no Brexit deal’.”
According to a report in the Sun today, a no-deal Brexit could mean British pensioners living on the might be unable to have their pensions paid into their bank accounts.
Mr Raab said the UK and EU were still negotiating on how to protect financial movements in the event of a no-deal.
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