Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of current preparations for the effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal on the road haulage sector.

The Department is undertaking a comprehensive and wide ranging programme of work to ensure we are prepared for numerous scenarios including, as a responsible Government, the UK leaving the EU without an agreement. The EU Commission has put forward a proposal on basic reciprocal market access for EU and UK hauliers which we have welcomed. If this was not secured then we are confident we would secure market access for hauliers through a combination of ECMT permits, bilateral agreements and unilateral arrangements. Such arrangements could also be used to supplement any EU-wide proposals on market access. We have also put in place plans on driver licensing, insurance, trailer registration and permit allocation to ensure UK hauliers can continue to operate in the event of a no deal.