UK Cabinet agree to ramp up hard-Brexit preparations; will implement remaining elements

Britain will begin to put into place plans for an exit from the European Union without any deal in place, with the public and businesses told to prepare now for the eventuality, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Tuesday.

A meeting of May's senior ministerial team agreed that the time had come to ramp up plans for a no-deal Brexit, the spokesman said, although he added that leaving the bloc in March next year with an agreement remained the most likely scenario.

"Cabinet agreed that with just over three months until our exit from the European Union, we have now reached the point where we need to ramp up these preparations. This means we will now set in motion the remaining elements of our no-deal plans," he said.