UK’s Raab wants business as usual after a ‘No Deal’ Brexit

The U.K. will signal that it wants life to continue as normal in the event of a "No Deal” Brexit, in the face of warnings that aircraft might be grounded and hospitals run short of medicine.

As he publishes the first of around 80 "technical notices” for different business sectors, explaining how they should prepare for a collapse in talks with the European Union, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab will say that individual institutions on both sides need to engage to agree "sensible” solutions to keep things running smoothly.

That reflects the government’s overall approach that nothing should change immediately when Britain leaves the EU. It’s not clear whether the notes will offer clues as to long-term plans. If they don’t, they risk describing a situation where the U.K. will pledge to continue to abide by EU rules without any input over how they are set.

The publication of the No Deal plans has been the subject of political debate in recent weeks. Brexit-backers had urged Theresa May’s government to do so, to show the EU that it was prepared to walk away from the table. Following reports that these plans would involve closing motorways to deal with queues of trucks, and importing generators to keep the lights on in Northern Ireland, Conservative lawmakers then accused May of trying to scare voters.

Different members of May’s cabinet have offered different views about whether talks might collapse, with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt saying people should take the possibility seriously. But Raab will say on Thursday that he is "confident a good deal is within our sights.”

In a speech in London as the plans are published, the Brexit Secretary will urge EU and U.K. regulators to reach side deals, as the Bank of England and European Central Bank are trying to do over financial services regulation. In July the government published a proposal that would give firms from the European Economic Area -- the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway -- as well as non-U.K. central counterparties the temporary recognition they’d require to continue operations.

"There are other areas where such engagement needs to take place, whether between the U.K. and the EU on data protection or between the U.K. and EU member states, for example between port authorities,” Raab will say, according to his office. "That is the responsible thing for us to do on all sides.”

May and her ministers have long argued that Britain and the EU are so intertwined that even a No Deal Brexit would require lots of side deals. The prime minister has pointed out that these would be hard to negotiate in an acrimonious atmosphere after the collapse of talks.

"Our overarching aim is to facilitate the smooth, continued, functioning of business, transport, infrastructure, research, aid programs and funding streams,” Raab will say. "In some cases, it means taking unilateral action to maintain as much continuity as possible in the short term, in the event of no deal -- irrespective of whether the EU reciprocates.”