LONDON - Britain is due to leave the European Union on 12 April unless Prime Minister Theresa May can break the deadlock in parliament or asks Brussels for more time, raising the prospect of an abrupt, no-deal Brexit for the world’s fifth-biggest economy.
Over the longer term, Britain’s finance ministry has said the economy could be 8% smaller by 2035 after a no-deal Brexit than if Britain stayed in the EU. The hit would be bigger if migration slowed sharply, the ministry has said. Deals with faster-growing nations such as the United States, India and China would be a big boost for Britain, Brexit supporters say. But Britain’s official budget forecasters say the benefits of such trade deals are likely to be small.The government has identified stretches of motorway to use as truck parks, and plans to use a small airport in southern England to cope with any tail-backs at ports on the English Channel.
Brexit supporters point to comments by the head of the port in Calais, in France, who said trucks would continue to move through without delays in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Brexit supporters say leaving the EU with no deal would help the public finances because it would mean an immediate end to payments by London into the EU budget.