New Tory leader said no-deal Brexit would be less painful because of ‘side deals’ with Brussels

Boris Johnson’s claims that crashing out of the EU with no deal would be less painful because of a series of “side deals” that the UK has already done with Brussels have been dismissed as “rubbish” by the EU.

Johnson made the assertion several times during his campaign to be the new leader of the Conservative party and EU officials are concerned this was being spun as a new post-Theresa May “truth” after the claims were repeated by supporters in recent days.

Iain Duncan Smith referred to 17 side deals on the table while the former chancellor Norman Lamont told Sky News hours after Johnson won the Tory leadership contest that “there is no such thing as no deal” as there were “all sorts of side deals that were done”.

A senior EU official described the claims of side deals as “pure rubbish”, pointing out that the so-called deals are unilateral positions taken by the EU alone to keep the basics functioning on their side of the border.

“We have said a million times that they are unilateral and temporary and that they don’t amount to side deals,” said the official.

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The EU has been bracing itself for the Johnson spin machine and sees this attempt to persuade Tory party members that no deal was actually a deal as predictable. But industry leaders are concerned that it shows a lack of understanding of the EU’s no-deal planning.

Pauline Bastidon, the head of global and European policy at the Freight Transport Association, said: “There is a huge difference between a mini-deal or a side deal and a contingency plan. If it were a deal it would imply they have reached an agreement and are equally bound by an agreement. I’m afraid there is no such agreement.

“What Boris Johnson claims are side deals are purely unilateral arrangements that have been put in place by one side that are by their nature temporary. They do not address big issues like customs declarations, or phyto-sanitary checks. Their scope is very, very limited and does not mean it will be OK in the event of no deal as is being suggested,” she said.

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She fears that with less than three months to go to 1 November, including summer holidays and parliamentary recess for party conference season, the country is less prepared than it was in March for a potential cliff-edge.

The EU’s emergency measures on hauliers expire at the end of December while the arrangements on aviation “to ensure basic connectivity” between UK and EU airports expire at the end of March next year.

While everyone expects the proposal to on planes to be rolled over, there is concern that the others may not, especially if talks with Johnson go badly and elements of the agreement on the Irish border, the divorce bill and EU citizens are dumped.

Earlier this year, the EU signed off on 17 emergency no-deal contingency measures including plans to keep flights in the air and trucks moving between Dover and Calais and across other borders.

It said at the time “they cannot and will not mitigate the overall impact of a no-deal scenario”.