SCOTTISH supermarkets could run out of food in just TWO DAYS, if the Tories fail to sign a Brexit trade deal with the EU, a secret UK government briefing has revealed.
The dire warning, labelled the Doomsday Brexit scenario, was drawn up by officials in David Davis’s Department for Exiting the EU.
Despite extraordinarily heavy security – the physical report was locked in a safe, and shared only with a handful of ministers – the contents were leaked to a Sunday newspaper.
Civil servants have drawn up three scenarios as part of their post Brexit no deal contingency planning — a mild one, a severe one and another dubbed “Armageddon”.
A source told the paper: “In the second scenario, not even the worst, the port of Dover will collapse on day one. The supermarkets in Cornwall and Scotland will run out of food within a couple of days, and hospitals will run out of medicines within two weeks.”
Officials would have to charter aircraft, or use the RAF to ferry supplies to the furthest corners of the UK. “You would have to medevac medicine into Britain, and at the end of week two we would be running out of petrol as well,” the source said.
The papers were prepared for the so-called Inter-Ministerial Group on Preparedness.
A spokesman for the Brexit department tried to play down the possibility of armageddon. He confirmed the discussions had taken place, but said it was “completely false” that the doomsday scenario would unfold.
“A significant amount of work and decision-making has gone into our no-deal plans, especially where it relates to ports, and we know that none of this would come to pass,” he said.
The paper also revealed that UK officials beleive this month’s summit will be a “car crash” because “no progress has been made since March” to devise plans for a long-term deal.
The SNP's foreign affairs and Europe spokesperson, Stephen Gethins said Theresa May needed to stand up to the hard Brexiteers in her cabinet to avoid the dystopian future prediected in the briefings.
"With each day that passes it becomes clear that the cavalier attitude of the hard Brexiteers in Theresa May's Cabinet is a danger to us all.
"We are less than a year from Brexit, and we still have no deal with the EU and no focus on getting the least worst outcome for families and businesses. These briefings suggest that the Tories are planning for a nightmare picture that brings to life the Brexit Secretary's description of a 'Mad Max-style' Brexit.”
He added: "It's high time Theresa May had the backbone to stand up to the hard Brexiteers in her Cabinet, and focus all resources in getting the best possible deal with the EU. Anything less represents a nightmare scenario and would have a devastating impact, destroying jobs, businesses, incomes, living standards – and even people’s health for decades to come."
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