Brussels to issue no deal warning as UK's new Brexit Secretary meets Michel Barnier for the first time

The European Commission is planning to demand the EU's 27 remaining member states increase their preparations for a "no deal Brexit" on the very day that Britain new chief negotiator visits Brussels for the first time in his new role. 

A 15 page document of strongly worded advice urging the EU-27 to boost their Brexit contingency plans will go in front of the weekly “college of commissioners” meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. The commission is leading Brexit negotiations on the EU-27’s behalf. 

If approved, EU sources said it is set to be circulated among national governments and published on Thursday, which will be the first day that Dominic Raab, the new Brexit Secretary, meets Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator. 

The document risks embarrassing Mr Raab, who replaces David Davis after his resignation, because it warns of long queues at ports and aviation chaos. 

Other warnings paint a dire picture of the consequences for the customs, animal, health, pharmaceuticals and financial services sectors, in particular those in the City of London, which will lose access to the Single Market.

“Drawing up contingency plans for the worst possible outcome is not a sign of mistrust in the negotiations," claims the document, “The [European] Commission hopes for an agreement and devotes very significant resources and committed efforts to achieve this goal. Negotiations, on the other hand, can fail."

The Brexit negotiations remain under huge time pressure. Brussels has set an October deadline for the Brexit deal to be finalised to allow for EU 27 governments and the European Parliament to ratify the agreement before the March deadline. However, there is still no sign of progress on the vexed issue of a backstop to prevent the return of a hard border in Ireland after Brexit.

The Telegraph understands that the draft, which calls on EU countries to make sure they are ready in case Britain crashes out of the bloc without a deal on 29 March 2019, was not prepared by Mr Barnier’s team but by Martin Selmayr, the secretary general of the commission.

Mr Selmayr is a divisive figure in Brussels who recently rose to the top job in the Berlaymont in controversial circumstances, which led to a European Parliament debate where his promotion from aide to Jean-Claude Juncker was likened to a coup. The German lawyer has ensured that Brexit contingency planning, euphemistically termed “preparedness” is within his realm of influence.

A draft of the emergency document was obtained by Ireland’s RTE News which reported that it had been written before the publication of the British White Paper on customs and the future UK and EU relationship last week.  

RTE reported the draft praised the Irish, Austrian and Dutch governments for their emergency planning and said the commission would make plans to shut Britain out of EU databases in the even of a no deal.