The UK boss of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has warned the Brexit Secretary that Britain will face “civil unrest” within weeks of a no-deal Brexit.
Doug Gurr warned Dominic Raab during a meeting on Friday with business leaders of the consequences of a no-deal Brexit. Amazon declined to confirm the comment.
“Like any business, we consider a wide range of scenarios in planning discussions so that we’re prepared to continue serving customers and small businesses who count on Amazon, even if those scenarios are very unlikely,” said Amazon UK in a statement.
“This is not specific to any one issue – it’s the way we plan for any number of issues around the world.”
The meeting included the Barclays chairman, Sir Ian Cheshire; the chairman of supermarket chain Morrisons, Andy Higginson; and Dame Inga Beale, the chief executive of Lloyd’s of London.
Amazon is not the only group to predict a no-deal scenario.
Ryanair said on Monday: “We remain concerned by the danger of a hard (‘no-deal’) Brexit in March 2019.”
“While there is a view that a 21-month transition agreement from March 2019 to December 2020 will be implemented (and extended), recent events in the UK political sphere have added to this uncertainty, and we believe that the risk of a hard Brexit is being underestimated.”
Airbus (EPA: AIR) and Jaguar Land Rover have warned they may have to move jobs and investment abroad following Brexit.
“A bad Brexit deal would cost Jaguar Land Rover more than £1.2bn profit each year,” said the firm’s chief executive, Ralf Speth. “As a result, we would have to drastically adjust our spending profile – we have spent around £50bn in the UK in the past five years, with plans for a further £80bn more in the next five. This would be in jeopardy should we be faced with the wrong outcome,” said Jaguar Land Rover earlier this month.