Tory chairman refuses to deny ‘out of date’ document warning of no-deal Brexit meltdown is less than three weeks old

The Conservative Party chair has failed to deny that the document warning of meltdown after a no-deal Brexit – which ministers branded “out of date” – is less than three weeks old.

James Cleverly twice ducked a challenge to dispute a former minister’s insistence that the Operation Yellowhammer dossier was written as recently as 1 August.

“That document evolves and I don’t want to get into too much detail of a leaked document,” Mr Cleverly replied.

The party chair also denied the UK would crash out of vital crime-fighting databases if there is a no deal on 31 October – although both the government and the EU have previously acknowledged it will.

The latest comments come amid continuing controversy about the government’s refusal to reveal any “up-to-date” assessments, to head off growing fears of food, fuel and medicine shortages.

One former minister has said the Operation Yellowhammer document was in fact drawn up on the first day of the month – and, therefore, since Boris Johnson entered Downing Street.

Asked if the 1 August date was correct, Mr Cleverly said only: “The reason it is out of date is because the government has enhanced its no-deal preparation activity, it’s been doing that for months.” He then ducked the question a second time.

The Yellowhammer leak has triggered alarm among business leaders, who are demanding answers in a meeting today with Michael Gove, the minister charged with no-deal planning.

The Freight Transport Association has warned of a repeat of the 2000 fuel protests which rocked the Blair government, having never previously been warned of a potential threat to fuel supply.

And the CBI has described the hugely damaging scenarios set out in the document as “plausible outcomes”, on the basis of discussions with businesses.

It has been widely acknowledged that a no deal will mean the UK losing crucial law enforcement tools, including membership of Europol and the European Arrest Warrant, and access to the Schengen Information System database of criminals and terror suspects.

The UK is likely to be forced to try to strike bilateral deals with individual law enforcement agencies across Europe, a cumbersome and time-consuming process.

It will take up to three years after Brexit for the UK – as a “third country” – to receive EU approval for data to be freely exchanged.

But Mr Cleverly sought to dismiss the threat, saying: “The EU are sensible pragmatic people and it would be in no one’s interest to reduce the amount of intelligence-sharing and cooperation that we do.

“It’s not in their interest, it’s not in our interest. These are smart, sensible and pragmatic people, and it is unrealistic to think that they would hamper their own safety or attempt to hamper ours, it’s ridiculous.”