No-deal Brexit could cause 'war-like' chaos and 'cost lives'

A no-deal Brexit will cause “war-like” shortages of basic supplies that could “cost lives”, the head of Brussels’ biggest thinktank has warned.

Fabian Zuleeg, the chief executive of the European Policy Centre, made the grave claim on Friday in a bid to persuade British MPs to back any deal Theresa May makes with the EU.

Speaking during a debate in Brussels, he warned: “If we end up with no-deal then it really is a catastrophe. It really is a situation where it might well cost lives.

“The government in London, if you listen to the preparations they’re making, this is scary. This is really something and I don’t believe they’re just doing this out of tactical reasons. I don’t believe they’re simply trying to scare people.

“There are processes in place now where you’re essentially talking about preparing for a war-like situation.”

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Pressed on his claim, Zuleeg said he meant that there would be “shortages of food, of medicine, of fuel etc” rather than any kind of civil war.

But he added: “There are also preparations in terms of having the army on the streets, in terms of civil unrest, in terms of rioting. It’s not a civil war but we are talking about a very serious thing.”

The government has revealed that it is stockpiling food and medicine as part of its preparations for a no-deal Brexit.

But Britain would face shortages of both within two weeks of a no-deal Brexit as imports between Calais and Dover ground to a halt, according to details of a government study leaked to the Sunday Times earlier this year.

Fresh fears about that scenario were raised on Friday by Port of Calais chief Jean-Marc Puissesseau, who warned no-deal would be a “disaster” and lead to “chaos” at the border.

Former Brexit secretary David Davis has hit back at “scare stories” about a no-deal Brexit, calling warnings over shortages “nonsense.”

“I don’t think no-deal is as frightening as people think,” he told the Today programme on Thursday.

Davis accepted there would be “some hiccups in the first year”, but added: “We’re a big country, we can look after ourselves and we will look after ourselves very well indeed once we’re properly out of the European Union.”

The latest warning over no-deal deprivations came during a debate between Zuleeg with the deputy chairman of the People’s Vote campaign, Hugo Dixon.

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Dixon predicted MPs will vote down the deal set to sealed by the UK and EU in the coming weeks and argued a second referendum would then emerge as the “only sensible option.”

But Zuleeg said it was more likely that voting down a deal would trigger “no-deal by accident.”

“I think that there’s a chance that going down this route of a People’s Vote might result in a worse outcome in the end,” he said.

“It might be that the best possible outcome, which I would have said at the beginning of this process would be a UK which is committed to membership and remains within the European Union, is no longer possible. We might actually have to, unfortunately, optimise what we can achieve now.”