WATCH: Boris Johnson to launch no-deal 'public information campaign' if he becomes PM
2 min read
Boris Johnson has vowed to launch a "public information campaign" to prepare the country for a no-deal Brexit if he becomes Prime Minister.
The frontrunner to win the Tory leadership contest said it would be necessary to demostrate the UK was ready for the "unlikely eventuality" of leaving the EU without a deal.
His comments came shortly after he once again refused to rule out suspending Parliament in order to ensure Brexit happens on 31 October.
Speaking to ITV's Peston show, Mr Johnson said: “What we will do, is we will encourage people in a very positive way… From the get-go, we start saying, ‘Look, what do you need, what help do you need, what reassurances do you need?
“Agricultural, farmers in Wales… Fishermen, everybody, just in time supply chains, here is what the Government has for you, are you ready?’
“And we make sure that everybody understands all the risks and eventualities, and it’s by doing that to get to the point that you made correctly just now, it’s by doing that in a really wholehearted and systematic and confident way, that you of course minimise any disruption that might take place in the unlikely eventuality of you having to come out on WTO terms.”
The former Foreign Secretary said a lot of work had already been done to get ready for a 31 October departure, but that areas such as restoring the Northern Ireland Assembly needed “special attention”.
“A lot of work is already in place, there are a couple of areas I would single out that have needed special attention are the chains of administrative command in Northern Ireland, that’s really got to be properly fixed. Ideally you want Stormont up and running again,” he said.
But he added: “It’s not the end of the world if it isn’t but I would like it to be, everybody wants it to be, and it should be.”
At the final Tory leadership hustings earlier, Mr Johnson had refused to be drawn on claims that he was prepared to prorogue Parliament for the second half of October in the run-up to a Queen's Speech - thereby guaranteeing Brexit on Hallowe'en.
He said he was “not going to comment on our programme”.
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