No-deal Brexit: Sajid Javid pledges to spend extra £2.1bn to reduce disruption

Chancellor accused of ‘colossal’ waste of taxpayers’ money on outcome opposed by MPs and voters

Chancellor Sajid Javid has committed an additional £2.1bn to efforts to stave off expected disruption caused by a no-deal Brexit, prompting accusations of wasting taxpayers’ money on an outcome opposed by MPs and voters.

The announcement – which brings to £6.3bn the amount set aside by the Treasury for no-deal preparations – was branded “a colossal waste of money” by anti-Brexit campaigners, who pointed out that opinion polls have consistently shown that voters would rather stay in the EU than leave without a deal.

Mr Javid said it was “vital” to spend the money on planning to be sure that the UK can leave the EU on the Halloween deadline, deal or no deal.

But Labour MP Owen Smith, a leading supporter of the People’s Vote campaign, said: “It is an absolute outrage that, without any democratic consent whatsoever, Boris Johnson thinks he can set our country on such a dangerous and reckless course, at enormous expense to the public.”

And shadow chancellor John McDonnell denounced the no-deal spending as “an appalling waste of taxpayers’ cash” which could otherwise have been spent on schools or hospitals.

In a sign of the additional bureaucracy which the government expects a no-deal Brexit to create at Britain’s ports and airports, the package includes £344m for border and customs operations, including the recruitment of an extra 500 Border Force officers, training and new IT.

Additional funds will be made available for the Operation Brock traffic management system, under which thousands of lorries are expected to be parked on A-roads and motorways and in the disused Manston airfield in Kent as they queue to use the port of Dover.

Some £434m will be devoted to trying to maintain supplies of medicines and medical products by boosting freight capacity and providing warehouse facilities for stockpiling.

In all, an immediate cash boost of £1.1bn will be directed at critical areas like border operations, medicines and transport, and a further £1bn made available for use by local authorities and devolved governments as the 31 October deadline for Brexit approaches.

The extra money doubles the amount committed to Brexit funding this year and brings the total cost of no-deal preparations to around £100 for every man, woman and child in the country.

The government is preparing for massive queues of lorries at Dover following a no-deal Brexit (PA)

Mr Smith said: “More and more of our money is now to be spent on something nobody voted for, that would make us all poorer, would damage the fight against terrorism and would threaten peace and stability in Northern Ireland.

“The only fair and democratic way forward is to give the people the Final Say. Now that what is being proposed is a million miles away from anything Boris Johnson and his cabinet colleagues sold to the public in 2016 it is absolutely essential we have a People’s Vote on whatever comes out of the Brexit crisis.”

And the CEO of the Best for Britain campaign for a second referendum, Naomi Smith, said: “This is a colossal waste of money for something both parliament and the country don’t want.

“We know a no-deal Brexit will mean shortages of foods and medicines, and we know it’ll cost the country a fortune. Now the new chancellor wants to throw billions more at the problem his government is responsible for creating.

“Wasting money like this when we have so many other priorities is exactly why the country has turned against Brexit. We need to stop fixating on it so that we can fix the country.”

A BMG Research poll for The Independent earlier this month found that voters would opt to Remain in the EU by a margin of 54 per cent to 46 per cent if the alternative was a no-deal Brexit. Most mainstream polls in the past two years have suggested the UK would vote to stay in the EU in a rerun of the 2016 referendum.

‘If we can’t get a good deal, we’ll have to leave without one,’ said Mr Javid (AFP)

Announcing the additional £2.1bn, Mr Javid said: “With 92 days until the UK leaves the European Union it’s vital that we intensify our planning to ensure we are ready.

“We want to get a good deal that abolishes the anti-democratic backstop. But if we can’t get a good deal, we’ll have to leave without one. This additional £2.1bn will ensure we are ready to leave on 31 October – deal or no deal.”

Some £108m of the new money will be spent on support for businesses likely to be affected by a no-deal Brexit, while another £138m will go on an information campaign to help people and businesses get ready to leave. There will also be increased consular support and information for Brits living abroad.

Mr McDonnell said: “This is an appalling waste of taxpayers’ cash, all for the sake of Boris Johnson’s drive towards a totally avoidable no deal.

“This government could have ruled out no deal and spent these billions on our schools, hospitals, and people.

“Labour is a party for the whole of the UK, so we’ll do all we can to block a no-deal, crash-out Brexit and we’ll deliver a transformative economic policy that delivers for the many, not the few.”