CAERPHILLY council’s leader hopes that a newly approved £1 million emergency Brexit fund will never have to be used.
Councillor David Poole and the council’s interim chief executive Christina Harrhy can use the money to offset potential impacts of the UK leaving the European Union.
The authority is preparing for disruptions within its supply chain and a rise in prices for goods and services in the event of a ‘no deal’.
Ms Harrhy told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that Brexit posed both a strategic risk to the council and ‘a risk to Caerphilly’.
Further uncertainty surrounds the Brexit process after Theresa May’s deal was defeated on Tuesday, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also tabling a vote of no confidence in the prime minister’s government.
READ MORE: The PM's Brexit deal is dead, so what happens next?
Cllr Poole, describing Brexit as ‘one little word but one hell of a problem’, said: “This money is there if we need to use it fairly rapidly.
“We don’t want to go through having to write and publish reports, or hold meetings, before we can use it.
“We have to open and transparent about this, but we can’t afford to act slowly.
“Fingers crossed we never have to use it at all, but it’ll be there in case of an emergency.”
Any money drawn from the fund would be retrospectively reported to the relevant councillors and committees, the meeting heard. The fund still needs the approval of full council, which is due to meet on January 22.
But neither the interim chief executive or Cllr Poole could give examples of what the fund could be used for.
Cabinet members also agreed to invite the Plaid Cymru and Independents group leaders onto a council Brexit working group.
But Plaid leader Colin Mann said the move followed criticism from Independents leader Kevin Etheridge about the council not involving them in the first place.
“I welcome the fact that we’ve been asked to take part and I will make whatever contributions I can, but it does seem like a bit of an afterthought,” said Cllr Mann.
“I think the money should have been drawn from another source, like the general fund, rather than reserves.”
Cllr Etheridge added: “It’s a bit late in the day in regard to timescale as council are being asked to agree this proposal next week after today’s decision but Brexit has been under discussion for months.”
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