Brexit prep ‘a shared responsibility’, Gove says as online questionnaire launches in comms drive

New government website includes new Brexit preparedness questionnaire


Photo: Cabinet Office

By Richard Johnstone

02 Sep 2019

The government has officially launched its £100m campaign to urge people to prepare for Brexit, with materials including an online questionnaire to tell people what they need to do get ready for 31 October.

A launch of a government poster on at the Westfield shopping centre in London marked the first public sight of the campaign, while the website gov.uk/brexit had launched, with a questionnaire to help people to determine what they need to do.

Details of the campaign began to emerge last week, with Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister who is in charge of preparations for a no-deal Brexit, signing off a communication plan to ensure members of the public and businesses are ready for the UK leaving the EU at Hallowe'en with or without a deal.


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Radio and TV adverts could also follow in the weeks leading up to exit day.

The government has also reportedly ordered t-shirts and mugs emblazoned with the 'Get Ready' message.

Launching the campaign yesterday Gove said: “Ensuring an orderly Brexit is not only a matter of national importance, but a shared responsibility.

“This campaign will encourage the country to come together to Get Ready for Brexit on 31 October.”

Johnson first mooted his plans for a high-profile ad blitz during the Tory leadership campaign.

No.10 Downing Strest considered a plan to repeat the 'Take Back Control slogan used by the Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum, but rejected because it could be seen as too partisan, according to The Times.

In his Conservative leadership campaign, Johnson said he planned to encourage people to prepare for Brexit "in a very positive way". "From the get-go, we start saying, ‘Look, what do you need, what help do you need, what reassurances do you need?’

"Agricultural farmers in Wales... fishermen, everybody, just-in-time supply chains, here is what the government has for you, are you ready?

"And we make sure that everybody understands all the risks and eventualities, and it’s by doing that... in a really wholehearted and systematic and confident way that you, of course, minimise any disruption that might take place in the unlikely eventuality of you having to come out on WTO [World Trade Organisation] terms."

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