Bodies could PILE UP if the UK crashes out of the EU with no Brexit deal, council warns
- Kent County Council warned that it will be hit by chaos if there is no deal Brexit
- Said coroners might not be able to collect bodies and school exams disrupted
- Matt Hancock said ports of Dover and Folkestone could be hit by 6 months chaos
- He said that planes could be chartered to fly drugs and medicines into the UK
Bodies could pile up in parts of Britain if the country crashes out of the EU with no Brexit deal, officials have warned grimly.
A damning report by Kent Council has warned the county will end up turning into a massive lorry park with up to 10,000 trucks stuck in gridlock if there is no deal.
The congestion is likely to cause chaos across the region, meaning schoolchildren could have to miss crucial exams and rubbish will be piled in the streets.
The report warns there would be ‘prolonged disruption’ to roads and railway lines which would result in problems importing food and medicines.
With many of the roads in gridlock, vital services including hospitals and schools could be hit by staff shortages.
And coroners ‘could face difficulties with the transport of the deceased to post mortem or body storage facilities’, the report found.
The dire warning comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock wrote to pharmaceutical companies urging them to stockpile drugs for six weeks as the key ports of Dover and Folkestone could be plunged into chaos for six months.
Bodies could pile up in parts of Britain if the country crashes out of the EU with no Brexit deal, officials have warned grimly. A damning report by Kent Council has warned the county will end up turning into a massive lorry park with up to 10,000 trucks stuck in gridlock (pictured in Kent) if there is no deal
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His letter states: ‘The revised cross-Government planning assumptions show that there will be significantly reduced access across the short straits, for up to six months.’
The 17-page report by Kent Council warned the whole region could be hit by many months of chaos unless Theresa May is able to get a deal.
And Paul Carter, the council’s leader, demanded No10 dramatically increase their no deal planning.
The dire warnings pile more pressure on Theresa May (pictured at church in Maidenhead today) whose Brexit plans are in chaos and expected to be voted down next week
He said: ‘We now need far more input and information from national government in how they are going to work with us.’
The council said it has serious concerns about how children will get to and from school if the country is hit by the gridlock.
The report adds: ‘Administration of GCSEs and SATs through schools could be compromised if staff and pupils cannot effectively travel to exams.’
Meanwhile, Mr Hancock said planes could be used to fly in drugs, and medicines could be given priority access through gridlocked ports if there is a no-deal Brexit.
The cabinet minister also said the Government was consulting on plans for chemists to ration drugs to ensure patients can retain access to vital medicines in the event of shortages.
The Times reported that a consultation launched by the Department for Health and Social Care called for rapid changes to medicine rules to ‘support the continuity of supply of medicines in a ‘no-deal’ scenario’.
The Government wants to enable ministers to issue a ‘serious shortage protocol’ for pharmacies to follow, the newspaper said.
It ‘could be issued in case of a serious national shortage and would enable community pharmacists and other dispensers to dispense in accordance with the protocol rather than the prescription without contacting the GP’.
Ministers would order pharmacists to dispense a ‘reduced quantity’ of the medicine, an ‘alternative dosage form’, a ‘therapeutic equivalent’ or a ‘generic equivalent’.
Mr Hancock told BBC Radio 4’s Today that ‘this is something we are consulting on’ and ‘it’s about having the appropriate clinical flexibility’.
He said it was about ‘making sure that the rules are aligned to what is best practice, to make sure that if there is, on any individual area – whether it is to do with Brexit or not – if there is a shortage of an individual drug, that pharmacists can make their clinical and professional judgments’.
In a letter to pharmaceutical firms, Mr Hancock warned them to prepare for six months of chaos.
The dire warning comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock (pictured outside NO10 earlier this week) wrote to pharmaceutical companies urging them to stockpile drugs for six months as the key ports of Dover and Folkestone could be plunged into chaos
He said: Although we cannot know exactly what each member state will do with respect to checks on the EU border, the cross-Government planning assumptions have been revised so we can prepare for the potential impacts that the imposition of third country controls by member states could have.
‘These impacts are likely to be felt mostly on the short straits crossings into Dover and Folkestone, where the frequent and closed loop nature of these mean that both exports and imports would be affected.
‘The revised cross-Government planning assumptions show that there will be significantly reduced access across the short straits, for up to six months.’
In another letter, he has told hospitals, care homes, GP practices and community pharmacies should not stockpile more drugs than usual.
Mrs May has been repeatedly criticised for failing to do enough to prepare for a no deal Brexit.
Brexiteers said this has harmed the UK’s hand in talks and left Britain woefully under prepared for crashing out.
Meanwhile, her divorce deal looks almost certain to be defeated when it is voted on by MPs next Tuesday night.
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