THE BRITISH Prime Minister once said the odds of a no-deal Brexit were a million to one against. Yesterday he said that such a scenario was now 'touch and go'.
If that nightmare scenario is to come about the consequences for each and every one of us are unthinkable – literally – because it is impossible to think of all the things, good or bad, which might happen to economies in the event of Britain crashing out of Europe at the end of October.
Recently Michael Gove and his party leader Boris Johnson both spoke about 'bumps in the road' in a no-deal scenario. When leading the leave campaign Mr Johnson was on the road with a bus emblazoned with a promise about money going into the NHS instead of to Europe, there was no talk of road works. Organisations, private and public, have to think about this appalling vista in a much more practical way and not just rely on a throwaway comment to calm nerves.
In today's edition we have printed some of the concerns of a committee set up by Belfast City Council in an attempt to prepare for all eventualities.
The worries of this group range from the ability of the council to get rid of commercial and domestic waste to the possibility of a run on banks, which could effect the ability to pay bills.
While some may scoff at these ideas these deductions are based on actual facts. For instance Northern Ireland exports millions of tonnes of commercial and domestic waste to Europe every year where it is recycled and some is converted into refuse driven fuel.
If those deals are not in place after October where is all that waste going to be disposed of?
The council's concerns go to all the areas it is responsible for such as the feeding of animals in Belfast zoo; keeping Northern Ireland's only crematorium supplied with oil in the event of electricity supply interruptions and increasing on imports through Belfast port.
That is just Belfast. It is clear that considering these and other possible problems all over Northern Ireland could lead to significant bumps in the road.
