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Councils warned not to underestimate impact of no-deal Brexit

The speed and scale of Brexit preparations by Scottish councils is increasing the risk of errors, Cosla’s president has warned.

Local authorities “are as prepared as we can be”, according to the umbrella body’s president Alison Evison.

At a meeting about preparing for leaving the EU, she urged councils not to underestimate how “catastrophic” a no-deal Brexit would be and criticised the political uncertainty the country faces.

“Brexit is real and its impact will be real,” she said, adding: “It will manifest itself in our communities, making a difference to how people live their daily lives and how we deliver our essential services.”

Warning Brexit arguably poses the biggest challenge since the Second World War, Ms Evison said: “Local Government will as always endeavour to rise to this challenge. We always do.

“We will still need to deliver all our essential services as they are just now. We all know that this is already difficult given the huge reductions to our core budgets.

“Due to the scale of this work and the pace it is being progressed, the risk of error is higher than normal.

“Local Government cannot afford to relax on our preparations and in the short time available we must be as ready as we can for the impact that will come our way.”

Cllr Alison Evison, President of Cosla (PA)
Alison Evison says ‘nobody truly knows what we are preparing for’ (PA)

Speaking in Edinburgh, in front of Parliamentary Business Minister Graeme Dey, Ms Evison reiterated Cosla’s desire for the UK to stay in the European Union and said it backed a People’s Vote with Remain on the ballot paper.

She added: “The reality of the situation in terms of Brexit preparedness is that nobody truly knows what we are preparing for.

“Brexit, even at this late stage, is still largely an unknown – and worse than that an unknown that changes almost daily.

“We in Local Government have taken a pragmatic approach, as we do and, to be honest, as we must, given that our essential services still need to be delivered and resources still need to be managed as efficiently as they can be.

“So, we have focused our attention on ensuring we are fully aware of the challenges that we may face, and tried to ensure, as far as is possible, that the right people know the right things at the right time.”