No-deal Brexit planning has been a lifesaver

The port of Dover has been closed down. The Eurotunnel isn’t carrying any freight for a couple of days. The lorries are already starting to back up in Kent, the supermarkets are working out where they can get fresh supplies from, and flights have been suspended, with the British likely to find they are turned away from most of our neighbouring countries. If you had blanked out all the other news you might think that after some terminal row about herring, Brexit had actually been brought forward by ten days, creating the kind of chaos that even the most swivel-eyed Remainer could scarcely have imagined possible. And yet, of course, it is the new strain of Covid-19 that means restrictions are being put in place. But, hey, one thing seems to have come good. All the plans we put in place for no-deal Brexit may well turn out to be precisely what we need right now.