Theresa May’s Cabinet has pushed the button on the “full implementation” of the UK Government’s plans for a no-deal Brexit.
As no-deal becomes an “operational priority” for the Government machine, Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to announce in the next 48 hours how some £2 billion of a £4bn contingency is going to be spent.
UK businesses are also being urged to implement their own no-deal plans and tens of thousands will receive online Government information packs to help them organise their own contingency planning. A wider publicity campaign will be launched to provide citizens with the information they will need in the event of Britain crashing out of the EU without an agreement.
Read more: Ian Blackford to open emergency Brexit debate
It has emerged that some 3,500 troops will be placed on stand-by to help cope with the impact of a no-deal Brexit.
No 10 insisted that communication with the Scottish and Welsh Governments was ”very much part of this plan” but Nicola Sturgeon’s spokesman claimed that the lack of information from the UK Government had hampered Edinburgh’s own no-deal contingency planning.
Tomorrow, the First Minister is expected to attended a plenary session of the Joint Ministerial Committee in Downing St with the Prime Minister in the chair. Brexit will dominate the proceedings.
Included in the Whitehall contingency planning is hiring ferries and aeroplane space to ensure vital supplies such as medicines get through if Britain on March 29 leaves the EU without a deal.
The Cabinet decision came as ministers clashed over what happens if next month Mrs May’s Brexit Plan is rejected by MPs in the rescheduled meaningful Commons vote as is still expected.
Read more: Scottish Conservative MP say plan for no-deal Brexit should have started after referendum vote
At an extended weekly meeting in No 10, the PM is said to have sided with colleagues such as Andrea Leadsom, the Commons Leader, and Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, to “squash” proposals by several ministers for a Plan B, involving a series of indicative votes on other options should Parliament reject her plan.
Equally, there was opposition to a so-called “managed no-deal,” which Ms Leadsom, among others, is proposing as an alternative way forward if the UK-EU agreement is knocked back.
David Gauke, the Justice Secretary, who has threatened to quit Government in the event of a no-deal scenario, is believed to have told colleagues: “The responsibility of Cabinet ministers is not to propagate unicorns but to slay them.”
At this morning’s Cabinet, ministers were presented with three options on Brexit: continue with the status quo; step up no-deal preparations with £2bn funding activated or to scale down preparations. They agreed to implement "in full" the contingency plans.
Stephen Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, said: “We agreed that preparing for no-deal will be an operational priority within Government but our overall priority remains to secure a deal."
No 10 also stressed how the PM’s Brexit deal remained the Government’s preferred outcome and was the option that would best mitigate against there being a no-deal.
However, with just 101 days until the UK's departure from the bloc the intensity of preparations for crashing out in March 2019 will now increase significantly.
Mr Barclay dismissed alternative plans being pushed by Cabinet colleagues, including a second referendum or a "managed no-deal" under which arrangements are made with Brussels to limit any negative impacts of severing ties with the EU.
The Brexit Secretary said: "There are a number of scenarios being floated in government without people really engaging on the consequences of that; either the consequence to our democracy of not delivering on the referendum, not having Brexit or the idea that we can cherry-pick and have some managed no-deal where the EU will suspend its own red lines, which I don't think is feasible."
In a direct plea to the UK's business community the Secretary of State urged company bosses to make sure they were ready for a no-deal Brexit.
It needs to be "much more of a priority for businesses up and down the country," he declared.
In the Commons, his colleague Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, said the Ministry of Defence had not had a "formal request" for support in no-deal Brexit planning but "what we will do is have 3,500 service personnel held at readiness - including regulars and reserves - in order to support any Government department on any contingencies they may need".
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