Brexit: Cobra takes control of plans for no-deal

British emergency committee Cobra, the “worst-case unit’’, is set to start implementing no-deal Brexit contingency measures.

Cross channel ferries will bring supplies across to Britain.

Cobra, the UK government’s emergency committee, has taken control of planning for a no-deal Brexit and will start implementing contingency measures on Monday.

The “command and control” structures of Operation Yellowhammer, the civil service’s worst-case Brexit planning unit, will be “enacted fully”, Steve Barclay, the Brexit secretary, told ministers this week.

Previously the operation was being planned under Cabinet Office structures, but a source said that there were Cobra-level discussions which were “highly confidential”.

Cobra refers to a cluster of meeting rooms in Whitehall in which the government and its most senior officials co-ordinate how to respond to crises.

Sources in the Department for Transport said that as of Monday staff would be working round the clock to provide a rapid response to issues as and when they arose.

“Clearly if we are facing a no-deal Brexit on Friday there are going to be issues that require a substantial response and we need to ensure that the department is working in a way that allows us to do that ahead of time,” a source said. “The unknowns are going to be the reaction of other European countries to issues like customs and driving licences. We need to be in a position to respond to issues quickly.”

The department is understood to have the capacity to hold up to 6,500 lorries at the former RAF base at Manston, 33km from Dover. They have also started booking ferries to bring essential medical supplies into the UK.

The Department of Health and Social Care is understood to have contacted pharmaceutical companies urging them to route their supplies using the new ferry services.

In his letter to cabinet ministers Mr Barclay told them that all no-deal planning should continue as before until not only an extension date had been agreed with the EU but also a statutory instrument had been passed by parliament changing the date of exit.

In addition, he told departments to be ready to make “necessary changes” to their contingency planning to account for an extension, and be ready to “reprogram” certain measures so that they could instead be activated before the new exit date.

Mr Barclay said that the 900 staff already transferred from one government department to another to prepare for no deal should stay in their new teams, and that about 2,000 more staff transfers should be completed.

He said that although a short delay would help Whitehall to prepare better for no deal in general, it would pose difficulties in re-planning some initiatives.

In the Commons Mark Francois, deputy chairman of the European Research Group, asked the government to confirm that it would initiate Operation Yellowhammer on Monday if an extension had not been agreed, adding: “If that is so and there is no extension, why do we not just vote down the rancid withdrawal agreement and sprint for the line?”

Chris Heaton-Harris, a Brexit minister, replied: “We do have Operation Yellowhammer, which is working to deliver the biggest peacetime project in the history of the civil service. Leaving the European Union with a deal remains the government’s top priority, but a responsible government must plan for every eventuality including a no-deal scenario, and these preparations are taking place alongside work to deliver on the government’s policy priorities.”

The Times