Government publishes latest round of no-deal Brexit planning documents - as it happened

Andrew Sparrow

from on 2018-09-13 17:19 (#3YPS4)

Rolling coverage of the day's political developments as they happen, including the latest batch of government no-deal Brexit planning papers

6.13pm BST

This government and its predecessors have been deporting the Windrush generation. They have also been illegally detaining them, wrongly preventing them from re-entering this country after a trip overseas. And the government can't or won't say how many were bullied and threatened into becoming a so-called 'voluntary removal'.

How can this happen? The most important factor is that official policy, ministerial rhetoric and media coverage fails to treat migrants as people. They have been numbers. They have been a problem. They have been a 'flood' and a 'tidal wave'. According to Philip Hammond they have been marauding. A former Tory prime minister referred to migrants 'swarming' into this country. If you believe this rubbish, it's little wonder the current prime ,inister calls for 'deport first, and appeal later' ...

5.40pm BST

Here is a link to the People's Vote briefing on what has emerged from today's no deal Brexit planning papers. (See 5.25pm.)

5.37pm BST

Here is some more business reaction to the no deal Brexit planning papers published by the government. According to the British Chambers of Commerce, some businesses suspect key information about no deal Brexit planning is being held back until after the Conservative conference.

From Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce

Firms still need greater precision from the government in order to be able to plan ahead with confidence ...

Many companies tell us they are deeply concerned by the impression that key information they need in order to prepare for change is being held back due to political sensitivities as the party conference season commences.

With each release of the Government's technical notes, we get a clearer picture of how dangerous and damaging a sudden no-deal Brexit will be for our small businesses.

What these technical notes highlight is the risk that in particular exporting and importing small firms will be hit with additional cost burdens and complicated levels of compliance that they simply can't handle.

The release of further technical notices continue to highlight the realities of a no-deal Brexit; additional red tape, resulting in extra cost burdens and bureaucracy for businesses and consumers.

5.25pm BST

People's Vote, which is campaigning for a referendum on the final Brexit deal, has produced an analysis of today's no deal Brexit papers. It does not appear to be on the organisation's website yet, but here are the key points.

The technical notes make clear that:

UK driving licenses would become invalid across the EU

The Brexit mess gets worse every day. It is putting prices up in the shops, costing jobs and deterring investment.

Whether we get Theresa May's car crash or any of the proposals favoured by Jacob Rees-Mogg, Boris Johnson or any others of the Brexit elite it is clear that the cost of the Brexit shambles will rise.

Another piece of progress today in @UKParliament - thank you to @alisonthewliss @HarrietHarman for the encouragement! pic.twitter.com/NBINZqVtEV

5.13pm BST

Divorce involving couples or assets in different countries could get very messy if the UK crashes out of the EU.

In one of today's papers the government warns it "cannot guarantee" that EU courts will accept judgments stemming for cases ongoing after exit day raising the prospect of painful and contended family conflicts.

5.11pm BST

Arlene Foster's former special adviser knew a "tsunami" of applications was about to swamp a botched green energy scheme, but could not recall passing the warning on, the inquiry into the renewable heat incentive (RHI) scandal in Northern Ireland heard today. As the Press Association reports, Forster, now DUP leader, was finance minister at the time, in 2015, with control over the purse strings. Dr Andrew Crawford was her main party helper. The taxpayer bill for the RHI spiralled after a huge spike in applications in the weeks before cost controls were introduced later that year.

Crawford said: "I was telling them, there is a tsunami coming here, you need to move." As the Press Association reports, Foster has said Crawford did not inform her of this.

I certainly didn't keep it from her, but I can't sit here today and say... I gave her the information.

4.56pm BST

Britain's leading business organisation, the CBI, has said today's government documents show that a no deal Brexit would hit firms like a sledgehammer. In a statement Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI's director general, said:

These notices make clear firms would be hit with a sledgehammer in the event of 'no deal'. They also illustrate the extent of the disruption consumers can expect if ideology wins over evidence.

Commitments to continue regional funding and maintain high environmental standards are positive. However extra costs, duplication of certification and interruptions to data flows would damage the economy, with a knock-on impact for living standards.

4.46pm BST

Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, told the BBC that, after this morning's cabinet meeting devoted to reviewing preparation for a no deal Brexit, the government was "confident" it had the plans in place to cope. In a recorded clip he said:

Today cabinet looked over all the plans across government to make sure we can manage, mitigate or avoid the risk of a no-deal scenario, which is not what we want, and agree the track forward. And, we have agreed all of that plan of action with unanimity.

I think we need to be honest about this. In the event of a no-deal scenario, which is not what we want, we would face short-term risks and short-term disruption.

4.31pm BST

At the afternoon lobby briefing Downing Street said that the claims of innocence in a TV interview from the two Russians accused by the British police of being responsible for the Salisbury novichok poisonings were "lies and blatant fabrications". The prime minister's spokesman said:

The lies and blatant fabrications in this interview given to a Russian-state sponsored TV station are an insult to public's intelligence.

More importantly, the are deeply offensive to the victims and loved ones of this horrific attack. Sadly, it is what we have come to expect.

4.22pm BST

Peter Foster, the Telegraph's Europe editor, has posted a very interesting thread on Twitter about the state of the Brexit negotiations. It's well worth reading in full. He's at the more pessimistic end of the market, saying the talks amount to a "dialogue of the deaf" and finding it hard to see how conflicting positions can be squared. It starts here.

The Salzburg summit looms, Raab plays to home crowd over the #Brexit bill, everyone 'wants' a deal ...but yet no-one can explain what it will look like.

So what is happening with #Brexit? Some thoughts after chats with both sides. 1/Threadhttps://t.co/xU18FMKhiH

4.14pm BST

Just as banks need to be set up in the EU in the event of a no-deal, 1,500 channels that broadcast to Europe out of London are also legally required to be licensed in a member state to continue services.

Under EU law broadcasters need a licence in just one member state to broadcast to other states and London has become known as an international hub for channels such as Discovery, Turner, Disney and the controversial Russia Today.

4.11pm BST

The consumer organisation Which? says the government has not provided enough reassurance about what might happen in the event of a no deal Brexit. Its chief executive, Peter Vicary-Smith, said:

These papers are further evidence of the shambolic effects a no-deal Brexit would have for consumers. If people need to get a new passport and an international permit to drive on the continent, then travelling abroad will become significantly more challenging.

The success of Brexit will be judged by how it impacts on our everyday lives, but we're still waiting for firm reassurances on vital issues such as flights and insurance. Without these we could be facing truly catastrophic consequences.

3.33pm BST

Turning away from Brexit for a moment, Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi, who last month labelled Jeremy Corbyn an antisemite, has returned to the theme during a speech in the Lords.

Addressing a debate on antisemtism, Sacks did not refer to Labour or its leader by name, but made clear his target. He said:

3.31pm BST

Andrew Adonis, the Labour peer, former transport secretary and hardline anti-Brexit campaigner, says the shipping company rules that would apply after Brexit (see 3.20pm) could mark "the death of the cross-channel ferry". In a statement issued by Best for Britain, he said:

This could be the death of the cross-channel ferry. Brexit will create a tanker of red tape. Gone are the days when Brexiteers could accuse the EU of creating cumbersome bureaucracy - that ship has sailed.

3.22pm BST

I'm expecting to wrap up the blog between 5pm and 5.30pm, but we are expecting to keep comments open until 6.30pm.

3.20pm BST

Shipping companies would have to provide PAN (pre-arrival notification) security information before their vessels were allowed to enter an EU port under a no deal Brexit, one of the papers says. This could include passenger lists. The same rule would not apply to EU companies sending ships to the UK because the government intends to issue an exemption for scheduled services, the paper says.

3.08pm BST

The anti-Brexit group Best for Britain has put out a comment about the newly-discovered Brexit asteroid threat (see 2.15pm). It's from the Labour MP Jo Stevens. She said:

It is deeply worrying that the UK will be shut out of some of the most cutting edge research in the world. This research provides thousands of high-tech jobs and provides the economy billions every year. Theresa May used to say Brexit wouldn't be the end of the world - but actually it could be!

2.52pm BST

Nathalie Loiseau, the French Europe minister, has been speaking at a Chatham House event in London this lunchtime. As the Sun's Steve Hawkes reports, she said planes would be grounded in the event of a no deal Brexit.

France's Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau repeats that the EU27 are united and they won't bend the rules just because one state wants to leave. But she says goodwill is there. "We are trying to divorce without hurting the kids."

Sacre Bleu!
Nathalie Loiseau says "that's correct"
The Eurostar's will stop and the planes will be grounded if there's No Deal

2.48pm BST

The Department for Transport would take over responsibility from the European Environment Agency for monitoring and enforcing Co2 standards on cars and vans, which means they would be responsible for helping to prevent another VW-style emissions scandal.

2.39pm BST

Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said the government did not have a "credible plan" for a no deal Brexit, despite all the documents that have been published. He said:

We are less than 200 days until we leave the European Union and the government still has no credible plan for Brexit. The cabinet should be planning to negotiate a good deal for Britain, not planning for failure or blaming businesses for the government's chaos.

The only reason the government is talking about no deal is because the Tory civil war on Europe prevents the prime minister from negotiating a good deal.

2.35pm BST

The Scottish government says it is "appalling" that Scottish travellers (and other British travellers too, although they are most worried about the Scottish ones) could be turned away from EU countries despite having a valid passport (see 1.52pm) under a no deal Brexit. Michael Russell, the Scottish government's constitutional relations secretary, has put out a press notice about this. He said:

The high price Scottish consumers and businesses will have to pay for Brexit becomes clearer with every passing day.

Although the Scottish government is doing everything within its power to protect Scotland as best we can, these technical notices make plain the crippling costs and needless red tape that a 'no deal' scenario will bring.

Time is running out for the UK government to do the right thing which, short of staying in the EU, is remaining part of the single market and customs union. That is what will protect our economy, jobs and living standards.

A 'no deal' Brexit should be unthinkable, which is why it should be ruled out, if necessary by extending the article 50 process.

2.26pm BST

Fears that roaming charges could return in Northern Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit will be fuelled by the government's failure to intervene as it has done for customers in Britain.

Roaming charges have significant impact on customers in border counties including Derry, Tyrone, Fermanagh and Armagh who used to end up with higher bills if they picked up a signal from the Republic.

2.15pm BST

One decidedly unexpected effect of a no-deal departure would be the UK potentially getting less warning about space debris plummeting towards the Earth, whether old satellite or other debris.

The warning comes in a briefing paper on space and satellites, which notes the UK's involvement in the EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EUSST) programme.

2.09pm BST

Britain and Ireland are committed to the common travel area which allows, among other thing passport-free travel for Irish and British citizens between the two islands of Ireland and Britain.

In a no-deal scenario British and Irish citizens could continue to travel freely between Britain and Ireland without seeking immigration permission, one of the documents says. They are "not required to take any action" to protect their status or rights associated with common travel area.

2.01pm BST

Some UK pharmaceutical companies will face additional regulatory hurdles in the event of a no-deal Brexit, with those dealing in so-called drug percursors needing import and export licenses to trade with EU nations, which is currently not the case.

Drug percursors are chemicals with legitimate commercial uses but can also be used to make illegal drugs, and so are regulated. Currently, these can be shipped around the EU without delay or paperwork, but a no-deal Brexit would see the UK treated as a third country, needing companies to register and gain licenses, which can cost more than 3,000.

2.00pm BST

The government has vowed to maintain high environmental standards after the UK leaves the EU, upholding international agreements it has already signed up to.

One document reiterates the commitment to Michael Gove's so-called "green Brexit" with a pledge to become the "first generation to leave the natural world in a better state than we inherited it".

1.59pm BST

British drivers may have to obtain one of two different types of International Driving Permit, depending on the destination country, in order to drive in the EU on business or on holiday if there is no Brexit deal, one of the papers says. They will cost 5.50 and they will become available from Post Offices from February 1 if no proper exit deal is struck.

However, drivers holding EU driving licences will be able to drive in the UK without requiring any extra paperwork, the document says. "The UK does not require visiting motorists " to hold a separate IDP to guarantee the recognition of their driving licence."

1.57pm BST

This is from Sky's Faisal Islam.

AA pointing out that people driving to France then Spain after a No Deal would need two different International Driving Permits after a No Deal Brexit and points to NAO report doubting Post Office capacity to issue 7 million permits

1.55pm BST

The Daily Mirror's Jason Beattie sums up what we've learnt so far.

Your driving licence may not be valid, you could be subject to data roaming charges and you may have to pay for a driving permit in every country you visit but at least you'll get a blue passport #NoDealBrexit

1.52pm BST

Travellers with less than six months on their passports may be denied entry to countries in the EU in the event of a no deal Brexit, the passport document says. It says UK citizens who plan to travel to the Schengen area after 29 March should ensure their passports have longer than six months validity. "If your passport does not meet these criteria, you may be denied entry to any of the Schengen area countries, and you should renew your passport before you travel," the paper warns.

The no-deal paper also reveals Brits may start receiving post-Brexit blue passports by the end of 2019, towards the end of the transition period, but that is not guaranteed. It says:

Passports printed between 30 March 2019 up until the introduction of the new passport design will be burgundy but will not include the words 'European Union' on the front cover. This includes passports issued by the Crown Dependencies and Gibraltar.

Blue passports will start being issued from late 2019.

1.41pm BST

Another hiccup for some businesses, notably cosmetics, could come through repercussions of a no deal on the so-called nominated persons system, by which companies have a named staff member responsible for safety and technical regulations.

While this is usually optional, such a system is mandatory for some areas, notably cosmetics, where the responsible person has to ensure products from outside the EU are safe.

1.39pm BST

In the event of a no deal Brexit, there would be no immediate change in the UK's own data protection standards, which were toughened up earlier this year, the data protection paper says. Personal data could still be sent from the UK to the EU.

However Brussels would need to rule whether it viewed Britain's data protection rules to be adequate before organisations were permitted to send personal data back. Without an agreement, firms would need to identify some other legal basis for transfers.

1.36pm BST

In the event of a no deal Brexit, car manufacturers would need to get EU certificates showing that they comply with EU safety and environmental standards, one of the papers says. And EU manufacturers wanting to sell cars in the UK would need the equivalent UK documentation.

In a no deal scenario, type-approvals issued in the UK would no longer be valid for sales or registrations on the EU market. EC type-approvals issued outside of the UK, would no longer be automatically accepted on the UK market.

This means that affected manufacturers would need to ensure that they have the correct type-approval for each market ...

1.25pm BST

After March 2019 if there's no deal, your driving licence may no longer be valid by itself when driving in the EU, the documents says. If you move to another EU country to live, you may not be able to exchange your licence after the UK has left the EU.

UDPATE: Here is the extract.

UK driving licences will no longer be valid in the EU, if there is a no-deal Brexit, according to the DExEU papers. pic.twitter.com/gzLmKoXWFv

1.23pm BST

All 28 of the documents have now been posted here, on the Brexit website.

They have been posted alongside the documents released in August.

1.05pm BST

The first no deal Brexit planning document being published today has arrived. It's about handing civil legal cases in the event of a no deal Brexit.

We're expecting 28 documents in total, but this is the only one I can see online at the moment.

12.32pm BST

In an interview with the Guardian, the former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown said that the world was in danger of "sleepwalking in a future [financial] crisis" because there is not enough cooperation between governments and central banks globally. My colleague Larry Elliott wrote it up here.

Since 2008 we have built one of the most robust regulatory systems in the world designed specifically to ensure financial stability and protect taxpayers.

We have, obviously, reformed regulation to put in place one of the toughest systems in the world and we have made it easier to deal with any issues that emerge on the banking front.

12.24pm BST

The Daily Mail has backed Theresa May's plans for a soft Brexit and described Conservative MPs plotting to oust the prime minister during the negotiations with the EU as "traitors", my colleague Jim Waterson reports.

12.05pm BST

The European commission has responded to the UK government's claim that, in the event of there being no Brexit deal, it would not pay the EU the 39bn already agreed, the Telegraph's James Crisp reports.

(It is saying it is not prepared to renegotiate the sum - although in practice, if the withdrawal agreement were to collapse and the EU wanted to recover money owed to Brussels, there would in practice have to be a renegotiation.)

.@EU_Commission responds to @DominicRaab in today's @Telegraph , where Brexit sec said UK would not pay Brexit bill if there is no deal.
Spox said: "We will not be revisiting those areas of the Withdrawl Agreement that are now settled , including the financial settlement. " 1/

.@MargSchinas goes onto quote @JunckerEU speech yesterday.
"The president said yesterday that we stand ready day and night to reach a deal. .This is something we owe to our citizens and business to ensure UK withdrawal is orderly and there is stability afterwards". 2/

Presumably there would not be much stability if UK refused to pay bill, which EC has always argued represents a settling of accounts (money owed) before leaving.

Other Q's in play is whether UK would be legally liable or not..

ENDS

11.56am BST

In the Commons George Eustice, the fisheries minister, is making a statement about the scallop dispute with the French. He told MPs that the negotiations intended to resolve the dispute had failed.

11.33am BST

Downing Street has confirmed that the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, attended today's special no-deal Brexit cabinet meeting, after he was spotted at No 10.

The Canadian, who has just extended his term for six months to provide some stability over the departure period, was at the meeting for the first half an hour, to update ministers on the bank's plans, Theresa May's spokeswoman said.

11.24am BST

Here is Yvette Cooper, the Labour MP and chair of the Commons home affairs committee, on the Home Office's decision not to introduce protest-free buffer zones outside abortion clinics. She said:

This is a very disappointing response from the home secretary.

The whole point of having this review was because existing powers are not working or are proving cumbersome and difficult for councils or the police to use.

11.01am BST

The Home Office has rejected calls for buffer zones to be introduced outside abortion clinics across the country. In a written ministerial statement, Sajid Javid, the home secretary, said introducing protest-free areas outside clinics to prevent harassment of patients "would not be a proportionate response". He went on:

Having considered the evidence of the review, I have therefore reached the conclusion that introducing national buffer zones would not be a proportionate response, considering the experiences of the majority of hospitals and clinics, and considering that the majority of activities are more passive in nature.

10.31am BST

And here is a full summary of what Dominic Raab told the Today programme, including lines from the interview not already mentioned.

It's not a threat, it's statement of fact as part of our no-deal planning that, yes, we would be mindful of our strict legal obligations, but the amount and the phased way it is set out in the withdrawal agreement would fall away because there would be no deal.

It's not a threat and it's not an ultimatum, it's a statement of fact. I don't say anything outside of the negotiation room that I haven't and wouldn't directly to our EU friends and partners, and I think it is well understood on both sides.

The reality of the ERG proposals, and the approach of saying we would accept the EU's offer of a Canada deal, is not to look at the small print. The EU is offering in relation to the Ceta [Canada-EU trade deal] arrangements not just the deal that they have with Canada but a backstop arrangement which for all practical purposes would leave us indefinitely in the customs union. And that's part of the offer they've made. So there isn't an easy way round this.

In the past months, whenever we needed unity in the Union, Britain was at our side, driven by the same values and principles as all other Europeans. This is why I welcome prime minister May's proposal to develop an ambitious new partnership for the future, after Brexit. We agree with the statement made in Chequers that the starting point for such a partnership should be a free trade area between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

But we also ask the British government to understand that someone who leaves the union cannot be in the same privileged position as a member state. If you leave the union, you are of course no longer part of our single market, and certainly not only in the parts of it you choose.

We've had some good news from businesses like Vodafone and Three. They have publicly said they wouldn't introduce any roaming fees for UK consumers travelling on the continent.

What we have said is we would like to see other companies following suit, but, in any event, we would legislate for a limit on roaming charges to make sure in a no-deal scenario that we protect British consumers.

9.42am BST

In his Today interview Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, was also asked about the dozens of Conservative MPs who have indicated that they are opposed to Theresa May's Chequers proposal. He effectively delivered an ultimatum: they would either have to back the Chequers plan, or see the UK leaving the EU without a deal, he said. In other words, it would be "deal or no deal", to coin a phrase.

When it was put to him that, if May did come back from Brussels with a deal based on her Chequers plan, he replied.

No, I don't think so. I think we'll come back with a good deal. I think it will focus minds. And I think colleagues will look at the choices they've got and we all have to be responsible for that.

I do appreciate the concerns on all sides ... But when push comes to shove, there will be the choice between the deal that I'm confident we can strike with the EU and the no deal scenario. And we are making sure we are ready for the latter. But I think it would be by far the optimum outcome to have a negotiated deal, and I think that will focus everyone's minds.

This is the crux of it for the govt - they hope, in the end, that there simply won't be enough MP s who'd risk it - Raab says.... "There will be a binary choice between a deal and no deal and I believe that will focus minds."

9.23am BST

Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, is in Downing Street for this morning's cabinet meeting about a possible no deal Brexit, according to Steve Back, a photographer who covers Downing Street and who tweets as @PoliticalPics.

Breaking: Mark Carney the Gov of Bank of ENGLAND just been smuggled into back door on No10 to join the Cabinet Brexit meeting in top range electric car made in the USA

9.15am BST

One of the more interesting political developments of the last few years has been the growing rupture between the Conservative party and big business. The Tories used to be effectively the political wing of the CBI, but Brexit has changed that and we saw a relatively small, but nevertheless telling, example of that this morning when Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, criticised John Lewis for saying Brexit was contributing to a collapse in profits.

The company announced a dire first-half profit performance this morning. Sir Charlie Mayfield, its chairman, explained:

These are challenging times in retail. Profits before exceptionals are always lower and more volatile in the first half than the second half. It is especially so this half year, driven mainly by John Lewis & Partners where gross margin has been squeezed in what has been the most promotional market we've seen in almost a decade.

With the level of uncertainty facing consumers and the economy, in part due to ongoing Brexit negotiations, forecasting is particularly difficult but we continue to expect full-year profits to be substantially lower than last year for the Partnership as a whole.

Well, I think it's probably rather easy at this moment in time for any business that isn't doing rather well to point to Brexit. But let me just give you the facts; this week we've had economic growth accelerating, we've had real wages accelerating, we've had Relx, the Anglo-Dutch business information company, revise its structure to be headquartered in the UK. So, actually, we have got positive news on the economy this week ...

I don't doubt that some of the uncertainty around these negotiations will have an impact on business. That's why we are putting all our energy into getting the good deal that we want with our EU friends and partners ... All I'm just gently saying is that it is rather easy for a business to blame Brexit and the politicians rather than to take responsibility for their own situation.

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