The UK chancellor of the exchequer, Sajid Javid, is preparing to announce more than £1bn in increased funding for a no-deal Brexit after Michael Gove, the minister in charge of no-deal preparations, said such an exit was a “very real prospect”.
A person familiar with Mr Javid’s thinking said that, while the exact figure remained unclear, the extra funding for no-deal preparations would be “over £1bn”, adding substantially to the £4.2bn allocated to no-deal planning under Philip Hammond, the previous chancellor.
However, Tory MPs opposed to Boris Johnson’s stated commitment to leave the EU by October 31 with or without a deal, are stepping up their own preparations to try and prevent the UK crashing out without an agreement.
The government is working on the assumption that the UK will leave the EU on Halloween without a deal. That contrasts with Mr Johnson’s comments during his successful Conservative leadership campaign that such an exit was a “million-to-one chance”.
On the no-deal spending plans, Rishi Sunak, chief secretary to the Treasury, told Sky News that it was “absolutely right” to prepare for a no-deal Brexit.
“We must be able to leave on our own terms,” he said. “We can’t be subject to the decisions of other people.”
In a column for the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Javid said “all necessary funding” would be made available for no-deal Brexit planning. He said, among other initiatives, the money would help cover hiring a further 500 UK border force officers, help for Britons living abroad and support for small businesses and new infrastructure around ports.
The clearest signal of growing discontent over the direction of policy came from Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives.
“I don’t think the government should support a no-deal Brexit and, if it comes to it, I won’t support it,” Ms Davidson wrote in the Mail on Sunday.
However, a person familiar with the thinking of Conservative MPs organising opposition to a disruptive exit without a deal said efforts were under way to ensure a grouping of anti-no-deal figures was organised before parliament returns on September 3. The grouping is expected to mount a publicity campaign to counteract the government’s own campaign publicising its preparations. It is also expected to recruit a polling expert and to seek funding from business figures.
“They cannot come to parliament returning and find that the government has used every resource it has to force through a no-deal,” the person said.
Rory Stewart, the former international development secretary, is expected to play a prominent role in any such group, although one of his allies on Sunday downplayed suggestions he had been offered formal leadership of the effort.
Mr Hammond, the former chancellor, is expected to take a particularly prominent role in the group.
An ally of Mr Hammond said on Sunday that he thought a no-deal exit would be “extremely damaging”.
“Given that that’s not what was offered in the referendum, parliament should have a final say if that’s the direction the government takes the country,” the person said.
