Sadiq Khan is to instruct London planners to start making preparations for a no-deal Brexit.
The London mayor will asses the capital’s access to medicines, energy, food and emergency services and whether the city would cope with a shortage of food and medicine.
“If the government had taken a different approach to the negotiations this would never have been an option, but we are now left with no choice but to plan for a no-deal scenario,” said Khan.
The London mayor plans to launch a consultation for London businesses to prepare them for Brexit eventualities. However, for Khan, the biggest threat is the rights of European employees.
“The government’s current offer of settled status relies on a successful outcome of the Brexit negotiations,” he said.
“If talks were to break down, the three million EU citizens living in the UK, around 1 million of whom are Londoners, would have no guarantee that their rights to stay and work would be protected.”
“Businesses regularly report the difficulty they face in getting the talented workers they need, and to now threaten the Europeans they currently employ is completely and utterly reckless.”
Theresa May has previously pledged to guaratee the rights of EU workers in the UK, saying: “EU citizens living lawfully in the UK today will be able to stay.”
The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, also highlighted the dangers of a no-deal Brexit scenario. Speaking from The Hague, he said that the implications of no deal would be “profound”.
“We have to be prepared for that; we don’t want that to happen, though. And it would be a mistake that we would regret for generations if we had a fissure – a messy, ugly divorce.”
Hunt later tweeted: “Important not to misrepresent my words. Britain would survive and prosper without a deal… but it would be a big mistake for Europe because of inevitable impact on long-term partnership with UK.”
