Government departments and State authorities “have to be planning ahead more intensively” to prepare for a possible no-deal Brexit, Ireland’s EU commissioner Phil Hogan has said. “These technical and infrastructure requirements arising from a hard Brexit are now real,” he said. Mr Hogan said the Commission would also have to “intensify” no-deal contingency planning given the political divisions in London over the draft Brexit agreement. The Commission would consider the situation after the UK parliament voted on Tuesday “to consider a plan B, if there is a plan B”, said Mr Hogan, though he stressed there was no alternative to the deal on the EU side. “If there is going to be a plan B, well then the ball is in the court of the United Kingdom to come up with a plan B,” he said.

Source: The Irish Times December 07, 2018 19:18 UTC