A no-deal Brexit isn’t worth the risk

The heightened rhetoric of the past few days, from talk of collaborators, saboteurs and government of national unity, prompt me to set out what I believe are today’s risks, from one who voted to Remain in the EU, but has accepted the result and voted accordingly in Parliament to leave with a deal ever since.

Let me deal with the balance of risks as I see them, saying clearly that this is my opinion, and that there are others contrary to mine. But I’m telling you what I think and why.

Firstly, no deal is economically damaging to the U.K. The publication in the Sunday Times of the Government’s own document on potential effects, ‘Operation Yellowhammer’, suggests a rational awareness of what could happen. Businesses do not know on what terms their goods will be traded. Tariffs will be imposed on some goods, where none exist now. Agriculture and food will be hardest hit.