Cabinet steps up plans for no-deal Brexit and makes it an 'operational priority'

The government has stepped up its planning for a no-deal Brexit.

Cabinet ministers have agreed planning for a no-deal Brexit will be an “operational priority” within government, Brexit secretary Steve Barclay said.

Following a meeting of the Cabinet on Tuesday to discuss a no-deal scenario, Mr Barclay said: “The government’s priority is to secure a deal – that hasn’t changed.

“But alongside that, as part of our continuation of preparing for no deal, a responsible government needs to ensure that we are ready for that default option – which we don’t want to happen – but we are ready in the event that it did happen.

“That’s why at Cabinet today we agreed that preparing for no deal will be an operational priority within government, but our overall priority remains to secure a deal.”

Downing Street said that advice on no-deal preparations will be going out to households by various channels over the coming weeks.

Businesses will be provided with a 100-plus page online pack to help them prepare and emails will be sent out to 80,000 of those most like to be affected over the next few days.

But justice secretary David Gauke fired a broadside at Tories who are open to the idea of a no-deal Brexit by saying it is a “unicorn that needs to be slayed”.

Mr Barclay said “tempo” of guidance from government to businesses and households on how to prepare for a no-deal exit from the EU would increase.

“We need to get over to business that this is something they have to prepare for,” he said.

Mr Barclay said planning for a no-deal Brexit needs to be “much more of a priority for businesses up and down the country”.

It had been reported that prime minister Theresa May and her Cabinet would ramp up no-deal preparations on Tuesday, with just 101 days to go to Brexit.

Increasing no-deal planning would indicate that Mrs May no longer expects to get her Brexit deal through Parliament.

It comes after Downing Street accused Jeremy Corbyn of a political “stunt” after he tabled a non-binding motion of no confidence in the prime minister on Monday, demanding she hold a meaningful vote on the Withdrawal Agreement before Christmas.

But the Labour leader stopped short of bringing a motion of no confidence in the Government under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act (FTPA) which, if the opposition won, could trigger a General Election.

Mrs May looked likely to win a vote after Brexiteer critics in her own party and the DUP said they would back her.

The Government would also have to allow Commons time for the confidence vote to take place this week and a Downing Street source challenged Labour to strengthen its attack.

They said: “We won’t allow time for what is a stunt.

“The FTPA applies if Labour wants to put down a motion under the terms of that.”

The Prime Minister had said the Commons would have the chance to debate her Withdrawal Agreement in the week MPs return to Westminster after Christmas on January 7.

The crucial vote – which was postponed earlier this month to avoid a heavy defeat – will take place the following week.

Mr Corbyn told Mrs May: “A responsible prime minister would, for the good of this country, put this deal before the House this week so we could move on from this Government’s disastrous negotiation.”

He said it was “unacceptable” to delay the vote and confirmed he was tabling a motion “that this House has no confidence in the Prime Minister”.

The wording of the motion, targeted at Mrs May rather than the Government as a whole, would not trigger the process set out under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act which could eventually lead to a general election.

But Labour said it was clearly a confidence motion and should be allocated time for debate by the Government.

A House of Commons spokesman said: “By established convention the Government always accedes to the demand from the Leader of the Opposition to allot a day for the discussion of a motion tabled by the official Opposition which, in the Government’s view, would have the effect of testing the confidence of the House.

“It will be for the Government to determine whether to schedule time for debate on this.”

The smaller opposition parties have tabled an amendment to Mr Corbyn’s no-confidence vote in Mrs May that they say would beef it up into a full confidence vote in the Government.

The SNP, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party have backed the change, laid down on Monday night to trigger the legally binding FTPA provisions.

Meanwhile, a group of more than 50 business figures have called on the PM to back a second referendum to break the deadlock if she cannot persuade MPs to back her Brexit deal when the vote takes place next month.

Senior figures in the City including Sir Richard Sykes, the chairman of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and former Marks and Spencer chairman Lord Myners, have signed a letter, published in the Daily Telegraph, which suggests her deal is “impossible to resuscitate” and urges her to “take (it) to the British people”.