LONDON: August 19, 2019. With a leaked UK government report ‘Operation Yellowhammer’ saying a no-deal Brexit will lead to months of food, medicine and fuel shortages, Britain’s Freight Transport Association (FTA) says it’s time Boris Johnson’s unelected regime “come[s] clean” with industry.

FTA president James Hookham said his organisation has written to Michael Gove, responsible for exiting the EU on October 31, “to come clean…so that logistics businesses can complete effective preparations to protect the UK’s supply chain from the worst impacts of a No Deal Brexit.”

Hookham added the British government needed to start rebuilding trust with the logistics sector by sharing its full contingency plans as the report was a surprise to his members: “For the past three years FTA has been pressing government for clarity on the trading environment we will be working in once the UK leaves the EU, with only limited success.

“We can plan for the worst and hope for the best, but without knowing what the worst might look like, with less than three months left, it is impossible to make strides towards a resolution which will keep Britain trading effectively come what may after Brexit.

“We simply do not have the time now to be pawns in a political game – logistics operators are the lifeblood of the British economy and deserve some honesty and trust from government to ensure that goods and services can continue to move effectively,” he continued.

Johnson, due to meet Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron later this week, said today he is confident the EU will “compromise” to avoid his threat to leave on October 31 without a deal.