THE Army has been put on standby to help cope with the effects of a no-deal Brexit as there are now just 100 days until Britain leaves the European Union.
The Commons announcement by Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, that 3,500 troops would be “held in readiness” to help with any crisis came after Theresa May’s Cabinet gave the go-ahead to the implementation “in full” of the UK Government’s no-deal plans.
And it came ahead of today’s meeting of the inter-governmental Joint Ministerial Committee in Downing St chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by Nicola Sturgeon.
As she prepared for what will undoubtedly become another Brexit showdown with the First Minister, Mrs May urged her to listen to Scottish businesses, which were backing the UK Government’s Brexit Plan, saying: “Now is the time for us to pull together and harness our efforts behind this deal and build a bright future for people all across the United Kingdom.”
But Ms Sturgeon urged the PM and her colleagues to “stop threatening the disaster of no-deal and start putting people’s jobs and living standards first”.
The FM said it would be “unforgivable” if Mrs May attempted to run down the clock to Brexit day and called for an extension to Article 50 to “allow time for an alternative way forward to be found; preferably another referendum on EU membership”.
The Conservative Government’s no-deal plans include:
*sending letters to 140,000 firms and posting an online information pack telling them of possible changes to trading with EU states;
*launching a media publicity campaign to inform citizens of no-deal effects;
*booking space on ferries and planes to guarantee the supply of vital products like medicines and
*urging consumers to familiarise themselves with Government advice published this summer from using credit cards to booking flights and travelling with pets.
A total of 320 Brexit "work-streams" have been identified by civil servants, who will continue to work on no-deal preparations over the Christmas holidays.
This week, Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to announce how £2 billion of a £4bn-plus contingency fund will now be spent.
During an extended Cabinet session, Amber Rudd noted how ramping up the preparations did not mean a no-deal outcome, said: "Just because you put a seatbelt on doesn't mean that you should crash the car."
The Work and Pensions Secretary urged colleagues to “put country before politics" by working to build a consensus across the Commons.
David Gauke, the Justice Secretary, denounced the prospect of a so-called "managed no-deal" Brexit floated by some ministers, saying: "The responsibility of Cabinet ministers is not to propagate unicorns but to slay them."
Brexit-backing Andrea Leadsom, the Commons Leader, criticised proposals from ministers like Ms Rudd for an "indicative vote" by MPs to choose from a range of options on the way forward.
Downing St stressed that it still believed the best way to avoid a no-deal was for MPs to support the PM’s Brexit Plan, agreed with the EU, but its preparations for Britain crashing out of the EU without an agreement were part of “good, sensible planning”.
However, Sir Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, accused Mrs May of waging "psychological warfare" to persuade MPs to support her Brexit Plan when it returned to Parliament in mid-January while Labour’s Jenny Chapman said the no-deal preparations were “testament to the PM’s failure” in the Brussels talks.
In the Commons chamber, Ian Blackford for the SNP said that as a Privy Counsellor he had privately seen the “sobering” details of the impact of a no-deal Brexit and called for them to be made public.
The Highland MP told MPs: "This Government is wilfully exposing its citizens to risk, whether it’s on job security, procurement of medicines, food supply or indeed on aircraft being able to take off. We have to wake up to the impact of Brexit and the options that are in front of us."
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