Nearly ‘every square metre’ of warehouse space in Britain is full as firms stockpile amid fears of a no deal Brexit, Business Minister Richard Harrington has said.
With just ten weeks to go until Brexit day, MPs remain bitterly divided over what to do now Theresa May’s deal was overwhelmingly voted down.
Businesses said they are ‘pulling their hair out’ at the chaos in Westminster – warning uncertainty is putting off investors.
And they are using every spare inch of warehouse space to stock up on food, drink, clothes and other goods.
They fear that a no deal Brexit will mean a heap of extra customs checks at the border – causing massive tailbacks and delays in transporting goods into Britain.
Businesses are stockpiling amid fears a no deal Brexit will mean a heap of extra customs checks at the border – causing massive tailbacks and delays in transporting goods into Britain (pictured, a warehouse in Peterborough)
The revelations by company bosses come as Mrs May continues to hold cross-party talks as she desperately tries to come up with a new Brexit plan which wins their backing.
Brian Palmer, chief executive officer of the robotics firm Tharsus, told Bloomberg: ‘Planning for anything other than no deal doesn’t make sense, because there isn’t any evidence that there will be one.’
He said his company is stocking up on motors and pumps, and increasing its output in the hope it can fulfill April’s orders a month early in case there is borer chaos.
Stephen Phipson, head of the EEF manufacturing lobby group, said: ‘People have got containers in their car parks building inventory at the moment,.
‘There must be thousands of companies out there now running very thinly on their working capital because they’re building inventory.’
And he said that it is not just the big multi-nationals who are stockpiling 0 even smaller companies are scrambling to do the same.
He said: ‘There’s been an awakening in the supply chain over the last few weeks It’s gone right down to the smallest companies at the beginning of the chain.’
Alex Ingham, the boss of protective clothing company MI Supplies Ltd, has increased the amount he stockpiles by around a fifth.
He said: ‘Companies are tearing their hair out because businesses like stability.
‘We’ve got no choice but to try and take extra stock and do a bit of disaster planning, really. If we don’t have the stock we can’t sell it, then we don’t have the sales and we can’t pay the bills and can’t pay the wages.’
The sheer scale of stockpiling was revealed as the PM continues to try to find a way through the political impasse.
She has been holding talks with the leaders of all the other main political parties, senior Labour backbenchers and Tory Brexiteer hardliners.
But Jeremy Corbyn sparked fury by snubbing her invite – refusing to sit down for talks unless she rules out a no de al Brexit.
Critics of the Labour leader – including some of his own MPs – pointed out that he has held talks with figures from the IRA and Hamas, but was refusing to even engage with the Prime Minister ta a moment of national crisis.
And some of his own MPs defied his demand that they also snub any invite for talks iwht Govenrment ministers.
Theresa May (pictured in Downing Street on Wednesday night) is holding cross-party talks as she desperately tries to come up with a new Brexit plan which wins their backing
Senior Labour moderates Hilary Benn and Yvette Cooper both met the PM’s de facto deputy David Lidington for discussions yesterday.
The PM faces fresh Brexit pressure today as Boris Johnson makes a a dramatic push for the Tory leadership by setting out his blueprint for Britain in a big speech.
The former foreign secretary will call for tax cuts and immigration controls as he tries to appeal to the Tory grassroots in his address.
Mr Johnson will urge ministers to focus on the ‘issues that drove Brexit’, and argue the Leave vote was ‘triggered by a feeling that in some way the people of this country have been drifting too far apart’.
‘If you look at the distribution of the Brexit vote, it is clear that people felt that gap in attainments and prospects and that they wanted something done,’ he will say.
‘If we are to bring our nation together, that means investing in great public services and safer streets, better hospitals, better transport links and better housing.’