Brexit

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A Brexit preparation document leaked to the Sunday Times (paywall) reveals a government bracing for the worst. The leak comes as prime minister Boris Johnson doubles down on his vow to leave the European Union on Oct. 31 with or without a deal. The document, which appears to have been written just this month by the Cabinet Office and marked “official-sensitive,” lists key planning assumptions and details the likely repercussions of a no-deal Brexit. Among them: fuel, food, and medicine shortages, rising costs of social care, significant port disruptions, and a hard border with Ireland. “This is not Project Fear—this is the most realistic assessment of what the public face with no deal. These are likely, basic, reasonable scenarios—not the worst case,” a senior government source told the Sunday Times. The report is one of the first times that the government has shown that it assumes a no-deal Brexit. And, worryingly, the document states that both the public and businesses are unprepared for a no-deal scenario, in part because of “EU Exit fatigue” following the extension of the divorce date from March to Oct. 31. Here are some of the ways they anticipate a hard Brexit will affect British industries and people.

 Brexit document leak shows the UK anticipates the worst — Quartz

Despite those warnings Johnson sought to convey a willingness to compromise in his appearance with Merkel, saying that he was “glad” to hear his German counterpart setting such a “blistering timetable”, and adding wir schaffen das (“we will manage”), the same phrase Merkel famously used to sound determined in the middle of the 2015 refugee crisis. Both leaders agreed the onus was on the UK to come up with a way to square Britain’s desire to leave the EU with the need to avert a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, as set out in the Good Friday agreement.

 Merkel gives Johnson 30 days to find solution to avoid no-deal Brexit | Politics | The Guardian

A boycott of The Sun newspaper by the people of Liverpool after the Hillsborough disaster helped to cut Euroscepticism in Merseyside, according to a new study.  Researchers at the London School of Economics and University of Zurich found Merseyside was around 10 per cent less Eurosceptic than the rest of the UK as a result of the boycott. The Sun‘s daily circulation in Liverpool fell drastically after it printed a front-page story incorrectly blaming the Hillsborough disaster, which claimed 96 lives, on the behaviour of the fans. The study found most readers switched allegiance from The Sun to The Mirror.

 Brexit: Sun boycott helped to cut Euroscepticism in Merseyside, study suggests | The Independent