Brexit Readiness Report

The Brexit Review Panel published a report this week on the Jersey government’s preparation for Brexit. The report covers a number of areas that will be affected by Brexit, and which the Government has prepared for. This includes various contingency plans for a “Day 1 No Deal” scenario. 

The Panel’s work has included reviews of plans for areas such as Medicine, Food, Fisheries, Animals, Financial Services, Transport, Immigration, and the Settled Status Scheme for EU Citizens currently living in Jersey.

 

The Panel obtained a range of evidence from Ministers and their respective departments, as well as holding hearings with the Ministers for External Relations, Health & Social Services, and Home Affairs. All publicly available evidence received has been published on the States Assembly website. This includes copies of submissions, webcasts and transcripts of the public hearings. The Panel has also published an Interactive Summary of the report. 

Deputy Kirsten Morel, Chairman of the Panel, said: “Overall, we’ve found that the government’s preparations have struck the right balance between understanding the risks presented by Brexit and preparing for them in a manner that does not create excessive costs or disruption to existing ways of working. In short, the government is as ready as it could ever be.

“It is, however, undeniable that Brexit; a scheme in which islanders have had no say, has already cost Jersey millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money. If the UK does eventually leave the EU with a deal, some of this money and the preparations it has paid for will go to waste, but the Panel was pleased to see that the island’s government has tried to ensure that the potential for such waste is minimised.”