What Boris Johnson’s no-deal ‘nightmare scenario’ squad portends for post-Brexit Britain
Downing Street unit to coordinate response to trio of feared threats to newly independent UK
Boris Johnson has quietly assembled a Downing Street unit to organise the government’s response to a “nightmare scenario” of a no-deal Brexit, a surge in Covid-19 cases and winter flooding, Whitehall sources have revealed.
The “winter control and coordination cell” will be based in No. 10 and will provide daily confidential briefings to the prime minister on the trio of feared threats in the months ahead, The Times reports.
“Winter is always one of the most challenging times for the government, with pressures on the NHS alongside the risk of things like adverse weather events,” a Whitehall source told the paper. “The question is what happens when you combine all that with Covid and a no-deal Brexit.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Ministers are reportedly worried that the EU will try to make life “difficult” for Britain, which may face more stringent checks at the border in Calais and tougher rules on handing out permits for UK lorries seeking to enter the bloc.
The unit’s existence has raised questions about the state of the ongoing Brexit negotiations, with Downing Street officials privately conceding that failure to secure a future trade deal with the EU is likely to result in widespread disruption.
Boris Johnson is preparing for last-ditch talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over dinner tonight in Brussels. EU sources told the BBC that their chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has briefed the bloc’s Europe ministers that talks were “tilting towards no deal being reached before the deadline”.
A failure to achieve a breakthrough during the face-to-face meeting between Johnson and von der Leyen would make a no-deal exit “much more likely, with some European leaders believed to be running out of patience”, adds Sky News.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
Life in the post-truth era
Opinion The mainstream media can't hold back a tsunami of misinformation
By Theunis Bates Published
-
Magazine printables - November 8, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - November 8, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine solutions - November 8, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - November 8, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
What is the next Tory leader up against?
Today's Big Question Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will have to unify warring factions and win back disillusioned voters – without alienating the centre ground
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
What is Lammy hoping to achieve in China?
Today's Big Question Foreign secretary heads to Beijing as Labour seeks cooperation on global challenges and courts opportunities for trade and investment
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is Britain about to 'boil over'?
Today's Big Question A message shared across far-right groups listed more than 30 potential targets for violence in the UK today
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
UK's Starmer slams 'far-right thuggery' at riots
Speed Read The anti-immigrant violence was spurred by false rumors that the suspect in the Southport knife attack was an immigrant
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The Tamils stranded on 'secretive' British island in Indian Ocean
Under the Radar Migrants 'unlawfully detained' since 2021 shipwreck on UK-controlled Diego Garcia, site of important US military base
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Britain's Labour Party wins in a landslide
Speed Read The Conservatives were unseated after 14 years of rule
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Will voter apathy and low turnout blight the election?
Today's Big Question Belief that result is 'foregone conclusion', or that politicians can't be trusted, could exacerbate long-term turnout decline
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published