Don’t panic saga continues

Rother District Council’s (RDC) Audits and Standards Committee (ASC) has been told that the Sussex Resilience Forum Strategic Command (SRFSC), which had been meeting weekly, has now been meeting on a daily basis since March 25 as the Brexit saga unfolds, and the EU Exit Working Group (EUEWG) is keeping a close eye on the situation.

Some European residents, however (see final paragraph), have already left.

The committee was told that a “scenario in which the UK left the EU without agreement (a “no deal” scenario) was said to be more likely now than it had been in December, but it “remained in the mutual interests of both the UK and the EU to secure a negotiated outcome”.

However the government has published a series of technical notes (plus an overview) that set out information to allow authorities, businesses and citizens to understand what they would need to do in the event of a “no deal” scenario so they can make informed plans and preparations.

And business preparations to deal with such a scenario have been reported in the media regularly as essential “stockpiling” takes place to keep production moving.

All local authorities have received grants to cope with any extra work involved in managing Brexit and RDC is getting £35,000.

The government has published masses of information on changes which will happen as a result of leaving the EU on the gov.uk website – but none is that helpful to the individual.

However much of the information seems to expect disruptions to goods and services, including food and medicines.

In the meantime Rother’s EUEWG will continue to meet and hopefully will keep us informed.

The French couple who lived in the Queen Adelaide pub in Rye’s Ferry Road asked the Home Office for the form they had to complete in order to stay, which seemed similar to the one given to those (and their descendants) from the West Indies who came over on the Windrush to help post-war Britain.

The French couple left last summer, the Queen Adelaide has been empty ever since and it was announced this week that the “Windrush generation” are to compensated for the Home Office’s failures, mistakes and behaviour in general.

Image Credits: Rye News Library .