Brexit vote uncertain, UK companies prepare not to negotiate

LONDON (Reuters) – British companies have started to put in place emergency plans to keep their business going if Britain left the European Union without agreement, underlining the growing fear that political clashes in London can defeat an agreement with Brussels.

Less than five months before Britain's exit from the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday secured the support of many companies for a divorce project, while she continues a delightful offensive to to convince Britain, deeply divided on Brexit.

The Bank of England also offered its support, claiming that the draft disengagement agreement would help safeguard the economy and announcing that it would postpone November 28 the publication of tests of banks resistance to analyze how to deal with a Brexit "without agreement".

This possibility was created with opposition to the May deal, which unites an unlikely group of conservative party extremist militants, Northern Ireland allies in the North and EU supporters.

Without a clear majority in parliament, May risks losing the vote on her draft agreement, which is expected to take place next month. Such a defeat could leave Britain the opportunity to leave without an agreement, or even the postponement of Brexit or its absence.

The Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, which backs May's minority government, showed his hand Monday night, when he did not vote with the government on the finance bill.

Sammy Wilson, his spokesperson at Brexit, called this a "political message".

"We had to do something to show our dissatisfaction," he said.

Wilson later told Sky News that his party would vote against the May deal when it was submitted to parliament, but in the meantime, DUP lawmakers would urge the government to change its Brexit strategy, the biggest change in British politics for nearly half a century.

The Prime Minister might have hoped that opposition to what is a plan for divorce with the EU would disappear after an attempt to overthrow it by Brexit militants seems to have failed.

She could still hope that some members of the main opposition party, the Labor Party, will support her plan to agree.

But also on Monday, those who want her to maintain her closest ties with the EU, both within her conservative parties and the Labor Party, have forced her government into another embarrassing fall by promising to publish an analysis of the economic impact comparing its maintenance to the blocking position.

CHOICE OF STARK

May warned lawmakers that they had a simple choice: to either endorse his agreement or risk initiating a departure without agreement or a delay towards Brexit.

But few of his critics accept these terms.

Doubts about the vote in parliament have pushed companies to prepare for a "no agreement" Brexit, which some have described as the worst scenario without trust in supply chains and trade terms.

Electro-components (ECM.L), which stores more than half a million industrial and electronic products, has announced that it will spend 30 million pounds ($ 39 million) to expand its fast-moving line portfolio in Britain and Europe. World AO (AO.L), a group of household appliances and appliances online, said it could increase its inventory in order to limit friction in the supply chain,CPG.L), the largest catering company in the world, said it was looking to build an inventory and vary its menus before Brexit next March.

However, the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, told a parliamentary committee that most companies did not have a plan of urgency.

The BoE said it would respond to a request from the Treasury Committee of Parliament to analyze how the draft agreement on divorce in Brexit "would affect the Bank's ability to pay its statutory powers with regard to monetary and financial stability, including in the scenario "No agreement, no transition" ".

More than two years after the British voted 52-48% to leave the EU, we still do not know how, under what conditions or even if it would leave as planned on March 29, 2019.

The EU is due to hold a summit on 25 November to discuss the draft agreement. Some Eurosceptic cabinet ministers in May want it to rewrite parts of it, although European governments have largely dismissed it.

Justice Secretary David Gauke said the talks would now focus on Britain's future relations with the EU.

"The withdrawal agreement is basically over. We spent thousands of hours negotiating with the European Commission and we reached an agreement with compromises from both sides, "he told BBC Radio.

"The withdrawal agreement meets our key objectives in terms of the UK's integrity, which is so important to all of us in government, especially the prime minister."

For a chart on resigning British ministers, see – tmsnrt.rs/2PI3f1S