THERESA May has taken personal charge of the Brexit talks as she came under fire after confirming that all EU laws will apply to the UK during the transition period to December 2020.
And as Dominic Raab, the Brexit Secretary, made clear the UK Government would ensure there would be no food shortages in the event of a no-deal scenario, his Cabinet colleague Matt Hancock, the UK Health Secretary, said health officials were considering stockpiling medicines should Britain crash out of the EU.
With just 12 weeks of negotiating time left, the Prime Minister announced control of Britain’s Brexit strategy would from now on be centred on Downing Street.
Dozens of staff will be moved from the Brexit Department to the Cabinet Office’s Europe Unit, headed by Olly Robbins, Mrs May’s chief Brexit adviser.
The Department for Exiting the EU[DExEU] will focus on preparing for life after Brexit with Mr Raab “deputising” for the PM in Brussels.
Labour said Mr Raab had been "sidelined" after just 15 days in the job, while the Liberal Democrats said voters knew DExEU had been a huge waste of money but now they were “going to be wasting money on a whole department to prepare for the increasingly likely no-deal nightmare".
The SNP’s Stephen Gethins said Mr Raab had seen his department “gutted of any meaningful power,” noting: “It is ironic the Department, which has been repeatedly accused of attempting a power-grab, has itself fallen victim to a power-grab.”
The Leave Means Leave campaign claimed Mr Robbins had now "seized control" of the process, ensuring Brexit would be "in name only".
But the Secretary of State, appearing before the Commons Brexit Committee, dismissed all the downgrading claims as a "caricature", playing the development down as merely a "shifting of the Whitehall deckchairs".
Mr Robbins also told MPs there was no plan to circumvent DExEU under Mr Raab’s predecessor, David Davis, and there was “never a second secret White Paper".
Meanwhile, a new Government document on implementing Brexit made clear it was “necessary” for Britain to remain subject to all EU laws and the European Court of Justice until the end of 2020; almost two years after Brexit Day.
Labour’s Virendra Sharma said the move meant “continued jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice yet no representation on councils and committees for Britain to have a say on the laws that are passed”.
In his evidence to the committee, Mr Raab was also quizzed about no-deal preparations and whether the Government was considering stockpiling food.
He replied: "It would be wrong to describe it as the Government doing stockpiling…We will look at this issue in the round and make sure there is adequate food supply."
Yet elsewhere, Matt Hancock, the UK Health Secretary, told MPs health officials were considering working with industry to stockpile drugs, medical devices and supplies in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
He insisted he was "confident" a deal with the EU27 could be struck but said it was "responsible" to prepare for a range of outcomes.
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