Ministers have been stockpiling French wine days earlier than Brexit deadline as ‘no deal’ exit loomed | EUROtoday

Ministers and officers stocked up on French wine and European tinned tomatoes as fears grew that leaving the European Union with out a deal might end in meals shortages, it has been revealed.

Britain got here dangerously near leaving the EU with out a key commerce deal below Boris Johnson’s management, sparking worries that the price of imported items might skyrocket.

Although a deal was ultimately struck on the eleventh hour, authorities figures and officers near the beleaguered negotiations ensured they have been stocked up on their favorite meals and drinks as talks repeatedly didn’t conclude with a deal.

Hosts of The Independent podcast In The Roomex-deputy cupboard secretary Helen MacNamara and former No 10 particular adviser Cleo Watson, mentioned the environment on the coronary heart of the political institution on the time.

“Planning for a no-deal exit – if we had to leave the EU with no arrangements with the European Union, where the high likelihood would be that importing goods from the EU would be very problematic,” Ms MacNamara mentioned.

“At that point, those of us who were very close to the negotiations were all busy buying unfeasible amounts of chopped tomatoes and olive oil… French wine.

“You could track the confidence that the civil servants and the ministers involved [in talks] had, whether we were going to emerge unscathed, or what kind of tariffs would be applied, by just how much European domestic goods they were importing.

“Mainly wine and chopped tomatoes, and olive oil.”

The spectre of a no-deal Brexit hung over the UK as spherical after spherical of negotiations between Brussels and then-prime minister Boris Johnson’s groups broke down.

The authorities was below strain to seal a free commerce settlement with Brussels earlier than the deadline of 11pm on 31 December 2020, when Britain was as a result of depart the EU’s single market and customs union.

Talks all year long turned bitter, with the EU and UK saying an settlement between them could be “unlikely”, as Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, warned makes an attempt to challenge “ultimatums or threats” would fail, including: “I don’t think we’ve got time for these games.”

Leaving the buying and selling bloc with out a deal would have seen the nation switching in a single day onto World Trade Organisation phrases for the UK’s business relationship with its largest and closest buying and selling associate.

This basically would have meant the imposition of tariffs on a variety of imports and exports between the UK and its closest buying and selling bloc the EU.