The Confederation of British Industry warned in a report, published on Sunday, that neither UK nor EU are ready for no deal Brexit, as contingency planning study finds. The report criticized that while US has made many proposals “many of its plans delay negative impacts but do not remove them”. EU has “taken fewer steps to reduce the damage of no deal”. And, “very few joint actions to mitigate no deal have taken place, creating a high number of areas where continued UK-EU negotiations are inevitable”. Business efforts have been “hampered by unclear advice, tough timelines, cost and complexity”.
Josh Hardie, Deputy-Director General, said: “. Both sides are underprepared, so it’s in all our interests. It cannot be beyond the wit of the continent’s greatest negotiators to find a way through and agree a deal… It’s not just about queues at ports; the invisible impact of severing services trade overnight would harm firms across the country… Preparing for no deal is devilishly difficult. But it is right to prepare.”
