‘This is not Project Fear — it’s what we

face after no-deal Brexit’

Codenamed Yellowhammer, it is the clandestine operation intended to prepare the UK for a

no-deal Brexit.

In one of his first acts as prime minister, Boris Johnson declared that he would “turbocharge”
the UK’s preparation for no-deal on October 31, appointing Michael Gove to lead the cross-
government efforts.

The Treasury also unveiled plans to ramp up preparations for no-deal, by spending an extra
£2.1bn to stockpile medicines, hire more border officials and to fund one of the biggest
public information campaigns.

Gove, who won promotion in Johnson’s first cabinet to become the chancellor of the duchy
of Lancaster, has since chaired a dozen meetings of the Brexit war cabinet — known as XO.

His committee meets every weekday at 10.30am in the Cabinet Office and has full control
over Operation Yellowhammer.

As the clock ticks down to the date of the UK’s expected departure from the EU, Gove has
launched “task and finish units” to stress test the UK’s capability to withstand crashing out of
the bloc without a deal.

Today, The Sunday Times has obtained a leaked copy of the government’s “planning
assumptions” for a no-deal Brexit. The Yellowhammer document, which is marked “official
sensitive” — meaning it requires security clearance on a “need to know” basis — exposes the
challenge facing the country if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

“It is a devastating health check on the country’s preparedness,” said a Cabinet Office source.
“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 scenario.”

The bombshell dossier reveals that “EU Exit fatigue” has set in among both the public and
business community, meaning that the UK is less well prepared for Brexit than it was on
March 29, the original departure date.

“Public and business readiness for a no-deal will remain at a low level, and will decrease to
lower levels because the absence of a clear decision on the form of EU exit . . . does not
provide a concrete situation for third parties to prepare for,” the document reveals.

“Readiness will be further limited by increasing EU Exit fatigue due to the second extension
of article 50, which will limit the effective impact of current preparedness communication.”
A Whitehall source said: “We have lost our ability to communicate the truth to the public —
anyone is not believed. We need to give people facts but it’s so politically febrile that no one
is doing that.”

The Sunday Times can reveal that 73 councils across the UK explicitly refused to answer
simple freedom of information (FoI) requests about the state of their no-deal planning.

This does not include councils that refused because the information requested was already
publicly available.

The People’s Vote campaign submitted FoI requests to hundreds of local authorities in May
to gather more information about local Brexit planning.

In January, a leaked report by the Kent Resilience Forum revealed that the Department for
Exiting the European Union (DExEU) had advised councils on how to reject FoI requests
relating to Brexit. The DExEU advice, quoted in the report, stated: “We do not find that
details of ‘no-deal’ planning should be disclosed. Even if individual plans are complete, they
make up part of the whole planning by the UK government to exit the EU and as such, we
consider that disclosure would undermine the effective conduct of public affairs.”

The People’s Vote campaign has written to Elizabeth Denham, leader of the Information
Commissioner’s Office, to complain about the 73 councils withholding the information.

Labour MP Ian Murray, writing on behalf of the campaign, said: “Given the reckless
language currently being used by the government about the manageability of a no-deal exit
from the EU, it is of paramount importance and clearly in the public interest that the true
picture of local planning is made available.”

The leaked document also reveals for the first time that the government is expecting harsh
treatment from the EU, with member states described as “unsympathetic”.

“This is a clear indication for the first time that the intelligence suggests just how hard the EU
will punish us,” said a senior Whitehall source. “This will be the way the EU makes sure no
country ever tries this again . . . We are a necessary casualty to keep the union together.”

Downing Street said: “We do not comment on leaks.” But a source added: “The scenarios
within Yellowhammer and no-deal planning are not what the government is expecting to
happen but are used for the planning assumptions.”

The three Brexit planning operations all have avian codenames

Yellowhammer is the codename used by the Treasury for contingency planning for a no-deal
Brexit. Its existence was exposed last September, when the City minister John Glen was
photographed with a document bearing its name.

Kingfisher is an emergency support package from the Treasury for British businesses hard hit
by Brexit.

Black Swan refers to the worst-case-scenario planning. Black swan events are those that
come as a surprise and have huge repercussions.