Daily Mail, Monday, August 19, 2019 Page 11
QQQSecret
dossier’s
14 claims
of chaos
MPs slapped down over
Commons recall plea
- LEAVING ON OCTOBER 31
THE Halloween departure
date from the EU is not ‘to
our advantage’, the Yellow-
hammer document states. It
falls on a Thursday, meaning
banks could be forced to make changes
overnight, rather than over a weekend.
Friday meanwhile, marks the end of the
half-term holidays for some schools so
families will be returning from abroad,
adding to traffic at border crossings. - CHANNEL PORTS
SIGNIFICANT disruption at
ports could last for up to
three months after a No Deal.
The document reveals up to
85 per cent of lorries travelling through
main Channel crossings ‘may not be
ready’ for French customs.
It states that in a ‘reasonable worst-
case scenario’, the disruption could leave
heavy goods vehicles facing delays of 1.
to 2.5 days, affecting perishable goods
such as foods and some medicines.
France has said it will impose mandatory
EU controls on the first day of No Deal. - DRUGS AND DISEASE
THE supply of medi-
cines to the UK
could be badly dis-
rupted, the docu-
ment states. It adds
that it will ‘not be
practical to stockpile products
to cover expected delays of up
to six months’. Diabetes suffer-
ers and children with cancer are
among those who could be
affected. It could also be harder
‘to prevent and control disease
outbreak’. - FOOD AND WATER
THE documents
warn that consum-
ers will be hit with
food shortages and
price rises. Under
No Deal the supply of fresh food
will ‘decrease’ and supermarket
shelves will have gaps.
The biggest risk is a break-
down in the supply chain of the
chemicals used to treat water,
which could affect ‘up to hun-
dreds of thousands’ of people.
The documents says low-
income groups will be ‘dispro-
portionately affected by any
price rises in food and fuel’. - FINANCIAL SERVICES
THE document
states ‘some UK
cross-border finan-
cial services will be
disrupted’. Banks
and other institu-
tions will have to switch to new
systems for reporting transac-
tions midweek. The City will also
have to deal with dramatic shifts
in the price of Sterling and other
assets. - OUR DATA
THE digital econ-
omy which sees
consumers buying
and selling goods on
websites is underpinned by EU
regulations on personal data. As
no decision has been made yet
on the handling of this data, the
document says it ‘could take
years’ to re-establish a relation-
ship. Experts warn the scenario
could result in a ‘data cliff edge’.
The disruption could also affect
bank transfers and stop data
flow from the EU to Britain.
7. PETROL SUPPLIES
TWO British oil
refineries could be
‘inadvertently’ put
out of business by
government plans
to set most import
tariffs at zero per cent after a No
Deal. This could lead to around
2,000 job losses and could also
spark widespread strikes and
disruptions to fuel availability in
some areas for up to two weeks.
8. NORTHERN IRELAND
MEASURES to
avoid a hard bor-
der in the event of
No Deal are likely
to prove ‘unsus-
tainable’, the docu-
ment says. It states there will
be ‘no new checks with lim-
ited exceptions’ on the border
between Northern Ireland and
the Republic.
But it goes on to say that
although measures will be intro-
duced to ‘avoid an immediate
risk of a return to a hard border
on the UK side’, this is ‘likely to
prove unsustainable because of
significant economic, legal and
biosecurity risks and no effec-
tive mitigations to address this
will be available’.
9. ENERGY SUPPLIES
CONSUMERS in
Northern Ireland
face ‘significant’
energy price hikes,
the document warns.
A rapid ‘split’ in the
single electricity market – put in
place after the Good Friday
agreement – could occur ‘months
or years’ after Brexit and result
in ‘significant electricity and
price increases for consumers’.
10. GIBRALTAR
THE supply of
goods, including
food, medicine and
the shipment of
waste will be disputed by the
‘imposition’ of checks at Gibral-
tar’s border with Spain.
If the UK leaves without a deal,
the 15,000 workers who cross the
border from Spain each day to
work in Gibraltar can expect a
delay of more than four hours for
‘at least a few months’. Pro-
longed delays ‘are likely to
adversely impact Gibraltar’s
economy’, the document adds.- BRITS IN EUROPE
EMBASSIES across
the EU will be inun-
dated with demands
for help by confused
nationals living on
the Continent.
There will be ‘an increase in
consular inquiries, with more
complex and time-consuming
consular assistant cases for vul-
nerable UK nationals’, the
leaked document states. - PROTESTS
AND POLICE
VIOLENT protests
could break out in
the event of No Deal,
the Yellowhammer
document warns.
There ‘may also be a rise in
public disorder and commu-
nity tensions’ as civilians deal
with the shock of a No Deal
departure. Police chiefs have
spent months drawing up con-
tingency plans to respond to
such unrest. - FISHING
EU fishing boats
could illegally sail
into UK waters,
causing clashes at
sea and disruption
at ports. Nearly 300 foreign boats
would be fishing in British
waters on day one.
This would be ‘likely to cause
anger and frustration in the UK
catching sector’, with risk of
smuggling and border violations,
the document states. - SOCIAL CARE
OUR already ‘fragile’
social care system
would be hit hard by
rising costs, the doc-
ument warns. In a damning
assessment, it says an increase
in inflation could lead to provid-
ers starting to go bust by the
New Year.
It states that smaller care pro-
viders could start to feel the
impact within two to three
months, while larger firms would
be affected four to six months
down the line.
warnings storm
MINISTERS last night rejected a plea
from more than 100 MPs for Parlia-
ment to be recalled to deal with
Brexit. In a letter to Boris Johnson,
the backbenches demanded the
summer recess be cancelled.
The Commons is in the middle of a
five-week break and not due back
until September 3. The MPs also
called for a planned three-week
recess next month in party confer-
ence season to be axed.
They wrote: ‘Parliament must be
recalled now and sit until October
31, so that the voices of the people
can be heard and there is proper
scrutiny of your government.
‘At times of grave economicemergency and threats to our
national security, Parliament has
been recalled to allow MPs to make
representations and to hold minis-
ters to account.’ The letter was
signed by several Labour MPs, the
Westminster leaders of the SNP, the
Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and
Change UK, the Green Party’s Caro-
line Lucas and Tories Dominic
Grieve and Guto Bebb.
But energy minister Kwasi Kwart-
eng rejected their demand. He told
Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday
programme that the recess dates
had been agreed by the Commons
and there would be plenty of time
to discuss Brexit next month.Face-off: Philip
Hammond and
Boris Johnson on
collision course