Brussels 'irresponsible' for flagging up risks of no-deal Brexit, says Raab

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/22/brexit-no-divorce-payment-without-trade-deal-says-dominic-raab

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The UK’s new Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, has accused Brussels of being “irresponsible” for flagging up the risks to EU nationals living in the UK from a no-deal Brexit.

In an interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Raab described a document published by the EU last week highlighting the risk of the UK leaving the EU without an agreement as “obviously an attempt to try and ramp up the pressure”.

He insisted the UK was preparing for all eventualities, and that more information about the planning would be made public later in the year in a series of “technical notices” being published by the government.

But he did not deny a report saying that the contingency plans included a proposal to turn a 10-mile stretch of the M26 in Kent into a lorry park.

On Thursday, as Raab travelled to Brussels for his first meeting with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, the EU published a 17-page paper for member states urging them to intensify preparations for all eventualities.

Among other issues, it highlighted what a no-deal Brexit would mean for citizens, saying: “There would be no specific arrangement in place for EU citizens in the UK, or for UK citizens in the EU.”

Asked specifically about this, Raab said: “Well, I think that’s a rather irresponsible thing to be coming from the other side. We ought to be trying to reassure citizens on the continent and also here.”

Raab said it was “far-fetched and fanciful” to think that, in the event of a no deal Brexit, the government would not act “swiftly” to secure the legal position of EU nationals in the UK. He also dismissed talks of planes being grounded, saying: “I think we would resolve that issue.”

But he refused to deny a recent report in the Financial Times saying a section of the M26 would be requisitioned for use as a lorry park in anticipation of delays at Dover under government plans for a no-deal Brexit.

“Of course, if we have no deal we have to make sure that we are prepared at the border with the knock-on effects that that would have if, on the EU side, they take the worst case scenario approach, which is frankly irrational,” he said when asked about the story.

“I’m confident we won’t get there. But even if we did, we will have the planning in place ... to deal with that.”

In response to a separate question about a Sun story saying the government was planning to stockpile processed food in case of a no-deal Brexit, Raab at first denied it, before adding: “That kind of selective snippet that makes it into the media, to the extent that the public pay attention to it, I think is unhelpful.”

Raab said planning for all possible outcomes was “the only responsible thing to do”, adding: “People need to know that actually we are ready, that Britain can thrive whatever happens.”

Although Raab criticised the EU document published last week, he also described Barnier as “a man who wants to do a deal with us”, and said the fact that Barnier was asking questions about the UK’s Brexit white paper instead of “blowing it out of the water” was “a good, positive sign”.

In a separate interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Raab admitted that some cabinet ministers were yet to be persuaded that the white paper represented the best plan for the UK.

Boris Johnson and David Davis both resigned from cabinet over the plan, which would keep the UK bound by EU regulations on goods, and fellow Brexiters Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, and Esther McVey, the work and pensions secretary, have still not backed it in public.

The government will try to raise public support for the white paper over the summer, but initial polling has been negative. A YouGov poll in the Sunday Times suggests only 12% of people think the plan will be good for Britain, against 43% who think it will be bad for Britain.

Conservative party members are particularly hostile. A ConservativeHome poll of party members published on Sunday suggests 67% are opposed to the government’s plan, up from 60% two weeks ago when the plan was unveiled in a No 10 statement after the Chequers cabinet meeting, but before the white paper with the full details had been published.