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James Hockaday – Metro Aug 23, 2020

The Government is preparing for power outages, economic chaos and public unrest if a second wave of coronavirus coincides with a disorderly no-deal Brexit, according to leaked emergency plans.

A classified Powerpoint presentation delivered to ministers warns of food and fuel shortages around Christmas if lorries get stuck at Dover, while 1,500 soldiers are already on standby – ready to hit the streets to help police deal with potential disorder.

The document put together by the Cabinet Office’s EU Transition Task Force also warns of price hikes, power outages, water rationing and animal disease tearing through the countryside due to a shortage of medicines.

Military airdrops may be needed to supply food and medicine the Channel Islands and Royal Navy could be needed to protect British fisherman from illegal EU boat excursions, according to the leaked plans seen by The Sun. Meanwhile Gibraltar could be face a harsh economic blow if it is cut off from Spain after Brexit

It comes after Brussels’ chief negotiator Michel Barnier said trade talks with London were actually ‘going backwards’, claiming yesterday that there had been ‘no progress whatsoever on the issues that matter’.

His British counterpart David Frost said he believed an ‘agreement is still possible’ but that ‘it is clear that it will not be easy to achieve’. The transition period ends on New Year’s Day next year.

Boris Johnson previously said he didn’t want negotiations to drag on past September so businesses had enough notice to prepare, but Britain has since set a new deadline for October.

Under Government’s plans for an ‘unruly’ departure from the , planners suspect France will enforce ‘mandatory controls on UK goods from day one’.

This could see the flow of deliveries between Dover and Calais drop by 45% over three months, meaning longer queues and a shortage of the 30% of food imported from the bloc, along with medicines, fuel and chemicals used to purify drinking water.

In a worst case scenario this could result in water rationing and power outages in parts of the UK

 

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