Brexit: From ‘Project Fear’ to grim reality

If anything happened over the weekend in Britain – other than the dawning realisation summer is all but over – it was Operation Yellowhammer. Now we know the full detail – leaked or not, is not the point – of the Conservative government’s assumptions about a no-deal Brexit.

Basically, it means Project Fear was all about grim reality. In the event of a no-deal exit, there are likely to be serious shortages of fuel, food and medicine; disruption at British ports and a hard border with Ireland.

As The Guardian’s Matthew d’Ancona wrote, the revelations mean the term “Project Fear” should be dropped from the political lexicon “To be profoundly and vocally concerned about such a prospect is not “scaremongering”, but a basic civic responsibility…These, after all, are the government’s own assessments, not the panicked assertions of ultra-remainers.”

Quite.