Cabinet hears no-deal Brexit plan as TUC warns of '˜horror show'

Trade unions have warned about the impact of a no-deal Brexit. Picture: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), has accused a group of Conservative MPs of pushing to leave the European Union without a deal in an attempt to slash workplace protections.

A Cabinet meeting this morning will hear Brexit Secretary David Davis outline plans for leaving the EU without an agreement, among other Brexit scenarios, as an end-of-year deadline approaches with no sign of a breakthrough in negotiations.

Despite calls from both sides for Brexit talks to “accelerate”, the EU yesterday confirmed that no date has been set for the next round of discussions.

Businesses are demanding progress on the terms of a post-Brexit transition period by December in order to avoid having to shift employees overseas.

A Number 10 spokesman said the meeting will cover Prime Minister Theresa May’s hopes for progress on a trade agreement, but will also cover preparations for a “no deal” scenario if talks break down.

Mrs May’s official spokesman said that “all contingencies” will be discussed, including the possibility of Britain leaving the EU without a deal.

In a lecture at the London School of Economics tonight, Ms O’Grady will say a no-deal Brexit would be “a nightmare on Brexit Street, with the bad guys waiting in the shadows to slash jobs and workers’ rights.”

Warning of a “disastrous” economic for the manufacturing and service sectors, she will call on the government to put together a new cross-party negotiating team with representatives from the devolved nations, business and trade unions. She will also call for impact analysis by Mr Davis’s department to be made public.

“I believe that people are tired of puerile no-deal threats and pie in the sky promises,” Ms O’Grady will say. “They want politicians to level with them about the choices and compromises ahead.”

EU officials have denied that chief negotiator Michel Barnier is conducting parallel Brexit talks with prominent Remain campaigners following a meeting with former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg. A spokesman insisted the meeting yesterday was part of the negotiator’s “open door” approach.

The ex-Liberal Democrat leader joined Labour peer Lord Adonis and veteran pro-EU Tory Ken Clarke for the meeting with Mr Barnier and EU economic affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici.