Council’s Brexit preparations hindered by wider lack of clue of what Brexit actually means

Councillors did their best yesterday to probe how well Wrexham Council were preparing for Brexit.

The debate was part of a Scrutiny committee held just hours before what was to be the Brexit date on Friday evening, however that has been extended. Councillors were told to focus on the preparations for Brexit and to keep away the politics of Brexit.

The Council’s Head of Finance Mark Owen attended the meeting to give information to councillors, and explained he was amazed at the large amounts of information and reports coming out from a huge amount of sources on the topic, all that has to be processed by the council to decipher if it is relevant.

The focus of information provided to the committee was an overview risk matrix document based around a ‘no deal’ Brexit, with various scenarios colour coded Green / Amber / Red depending on the perceived risk.

The Officer told the meeting, “There is not much real benefit to go hell for leather on preparations until we know specifically how or what will impact on us” , echoing comments from the Chief Executive Ian Bancroft about preparations earlier this month.

Wrexham Council has written down a no deal brexit in its risk register alongside other ‘high risks’ such as terrorism, severe weather, and pandemics.

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) March 27, 2019

It was noted that EU funding in Wales appeared to congregate southwards and therefore if there was a ‘prosperity fund’ after Brexit the local area ‘could do better than that with EU resources’.

Wrexham Council do not believe they have a major risk of EU nationals they employ moving, and that they had assurances from various suppliers in supply chains. Risks were described as ‘low level’ with an example given that food for school dinners would not stop, rather there could be a ‘substitution of food’ items in some scenarios.

With North Wales seeing wider resilience meetings the main concern appears to be the port in Holyhead, however the immediate impact of problems there was not thought to extend to the Wrexham area.

Introduction of tariffs could impact the council directly, with ICT contracts being specifically mentioned as a possible area that could see price rises.

Wrexham Council has been providing a daily update on brexit risks for the last two weeks to cardiff, there is a welsh government brexit team available 24/7 it seems ‘working hard to protect the interests of wales’

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) March 27, 2019

In the timeframe around Brexit or decisions relating to the topic possible ‘civil unrest or disturbances’ have been mentioned, however various groups feeding into Wrexham Council monitoring ‘have not picked up any signs of that’. The referendum saw ‘some short term low level issues’ and the meeting was told it was felt if there were any such problems they would probably mirror that in being low level and short lived.

Officer points to this dedicated page on the council website that signposts people to other places for current information as the ‘information changes daily’ https://t.co/reSfwagjka

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) March 27, 2019

Councillors asked the Officer about the approach Wrexham Council were taking, but most comments were batted back with the wider unknown of what Brexit will actually be, and that the ‘holding report’ was based off a no deal Brexit.

The quite dull meeting had moments of humour, with Clr Adrienne Jeorrett making the classic Brexit / Breakfast swap, and the Officer replying to a query over informing older generations without internet access about what was going on with a reply that pointed out “it is not just older people who don’t know what is happening!”.

The more serious answer to that again reiterated once the wider world knew what form Brexit actually takes the council then can form a relevant communications plan and ‘take more of a leadership role in local community’.

Cllr Davies said she was concerned that things were being looked at ‘at a too higher level’, noting ‘quick significant impacts in safeguarding implications’ of a no deal Brexit, with an example of possible childcare issues impacting on parents being able to work. The Officer noted a section in the report before members from the relevant department, and wider Welsh Government work in the area, however again explained until the detail was known specific impacts were unknown. The Officer promised to speak with the social care departments to get more figures, and ‘reassurance’ for councillors.

A ‘dashboard’ document created for Welsh councils by Grant Thornton was briefly referenced and shown to councillors, and after the meeting Wrexham Council kindly provided a link to the PDF version here. The document includes the following two pages of local stats and ‘key findings’:

Questions were taken on specific issues, with Cllr Gwenfair Jones pointing out the risk matrix had several areas without colour coding. That was noted as an error and an update will take place, however none missing will be updated as ‘red’. Cllr Morris also noted duplicate information as typographical errors.

Cllr Apsley enquired if more ‘red’ risks would show closer to any Brexit date, however was told the report was based off a ‘no deal’ already so there was no expectation of significant escalations.

Cllr Davies wanted to see the council’s commercial portfolio added as a risk, as if businesses closed or an economic slowdown took place that could affect council income.

Councillors asking questions about the approach Wrexham Council are taking for brexit prep, common theme to answers is ‘once we know what is happening we can prepare better’. A brexity chicken and egg situation.

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) March 27, 2019

With the unknowns of Brexit surfacing time and time again the committee formed around the idea of regular updates for all councillors rather than just the members present.

Cllr Apsley suggested noting that councillors were currently happy with the approach the council are taking, and a well prepared Clr Jeorrett adding that line to her premade recommendation that included a line that the council would consider ways to communicate to those without internet access as well as requesting all councillors get appropriate updates on risk and relevant Brexit information.

Councillors wrapping up brexit prep debate, as there is the wider ambiguity over what is actually going on, councillors on a local level want updates but not much meat on the bones, this committee is ‘currently happy’ with council approach.

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) March 27, 2019