The UK government has sought to distance itself from a report its own ministers drew up which spells out the drastic consequences of a no-deal Brexit.

The document, entitled the “Yellowhammer” report, was leaked to the Sunday Times and set out the likely impact of the UK leaving the EU at the end of October without a deal. It suggested the country would face shortages of food and medicines and face disruption to the border with Ireland – which is a crucial part of the Northern Ireland peace process – and experience potential chaos at ports along the south coast of England which every week deal with thousands of lorries carrying goods both to and from the continent that could be held up for customs checks.

Following the leaks of the report to the British newspaper, ministers were quick to say that its conclusions were out of date and that discussions with European leaders would lead to a compromise. But the scope of the report left few in any doubt that the government was preparing for a worst-case scenario. UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s meetings with the German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron in the past week have done little to change the view of business leaders on either side of the Channel that trade – and the trading relationship – between the UK and the EU will be seriously hindered by a no-deal Brexit.

A survey in spring by the British Plastics Federation (BPF, London / UK; www.bpf.co.uk) found that more than 75% of those of its members who responded did not want the UK to leave without a deal, and 65% wanted to retain a customs union with the EU – see Plasteurope.com of 03.04.2019. Around 40% of those polled by the BPF wanted to revoke article 50, the mechanism which triggered the UK’s departure from the EU. Another BPF survey in July 2019 revealed that around two thirds of companies responding believed a no-deal Brexit would negatively affect their business – see Plasteurope.com of 01.08.2019.