Official confirmation that we're past the point of no return on no-deal. We couldn't prepare for it now even if we wanted to. politics.co.uk/blogs/2018/10/…
In reality, we've been past it for a long time, arguably even from the day Article 50 was triggered. But the NAO report offers independent validation, free from the hesitant double-think of the govt's impact assessments.
Trouble is partly that two years just isn't enough time to build the kind of physical infrastructure or regulatory administration you need.
But it's also a chicken-and-egg problem. No-one, whether it's govt or private sector, wants to spend the money on no-deal only for a deal to make it irrelevant.
That meant that planning was contingent on talks. And talks drove down the clock.
There was no solution really. There never was. Except perhaps to try and sidestep A50 for a viable exit process, but hard to see that getting past Brussels.
But at a bare minimum we could have expected 2 things before triggering A50: 1) a finalised plan for no-deal contingencies (we still don't have it) 2) a clear, internally consistent and deliverable future relationship plan (we still don't have this either)
Oh and 3, not holding a fucking general election as soon as you set the clock ticking.
