Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab today revealed the first 25 ‘technical notices’ designed to guide people, businesses and public bodies on how to avoid the “short-term disruption” which he admits is possible if there’s a ‘no deal’ outcome for March 2019.
However, the detail is very much pitched at a technical level, so we’re decoding the individual notices most relevant to you, our members and followers, as you read this.
Whilst 80%, of the Withdrawal Agreement is said to have been agreed, fundamental differences remain between UK and EU as they enter the crucial phase of Brexit talks – and recent weeks have seen an increasing focus on the possibility of no deal being reached.
Mr Rabb says these technical notices aim to minimise disruption and ensure a smooth and orderly EU exit in all scenarios – especially in relation to business, transport, infrastructure, research, aid programmes and funding streams that have previously come from the EU.
However if the UK leaves the EU without agreement on how its future relationship will work, some of the small print admissions from today make for interesting reading.
Businesses could face extra paperwork and checks at borders, contingency plans could well be needed to avoid medicine shortages, Britons visiting the EU could also face extra credit card charges, plus ex-pats could lose access to UK banking and pension services without appropriate EU action.
Mr Rabb was keen to stress these were worse-case scenarios and the Government is planning for all eventualities, but at the same time he added they’re about to recruit 9,000 new civil servants to work on Brexit (on top of 7,000 already in place) and there are plans to recruit 1,000 more Border Force staff – on top of the current recruitment for 300 that is already underway.
Keep following the Brexit Decoded blog for more simplified and straight-to-the-point analysis of the first notices affecting industries like medicine, finance and farming.