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The IoD produced figures that showed less than half of businesses had Brexit plans, and said firms should be considering all reasonable preparations for no deal.
Some Tory candidates for prime minister – including the frontrunner, Boris Johnson – have said they would be prepared to leave the EU without a deal but an IoD survey of almost 1,000 companies found the proportion that had activated contingency plans between January and April rose from 18% to only 23%.
Only 4% of those questioned said they would be using the extension period to pick up the pace.
Edwin Morgan, the IoD’s interim director general, said: “This week’s vote won’t be the last twist in the Brexit saga but it made clear how real the possibility of no deal is. Business can have no absolute reassurance that an agreement will be reached, particularly given the commitment of some Conservative leadership candidates to leaving the EU in October, with or without a deal. It feels like the extension is at risk of being wasted.”
The IoD said there had been very limited financial support from central government for small businesses to prepare, despite repeated calls from the employers’ group for Brexit planning vouchers to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) receive professional help for complex trade and legal issues. [...]