A COUNCIL leader has appeared to dismiss an appeal to assess the consequences of a Brexit no deal, saying it would be “nigh-on impossible”.

A full meeting of Darlington Borough Council heard while other local authorities had carried out risk assessments, with less than 190 days to go the council lacked sufficient information on which to make post-Brexit decisions.

Neighbouring North Yorkshire County Council has prepared risk assessments in the event the Government does not sign a deal with the EU, which is reviewed each time there is a Government announcement.

The document has not been published, but is being used by senior officers at the authority to aid business continuity planning.

It is understood the North Yorkshire council’s biggest concern is the impact Brexit will have on its supply chain, such as care homes, and what may happen in the economy on businesses dependent on migrant workers.

Independent councillor Alan Coultas told the Darlington council meeting the authority had a responsibility to its residents to examine the “worst possible no deal with the wanton damage that comes with that”.

He urged the authority to produce a risk assessment, adding: “We are potentially on the brink of disaster as we prepare to do this because 187 days away from withdrawal nobody knows what we are going to do. That presents enormous risk for business.

“Of course it threatens this authority. We do carry out other risk assessments, but where is the overall assessment of risk facing us in a pretty short period of time?

The council’s leader Stephen Harker said while the decision surrounding Brexit presented risks to employment in the region, he believed the Conservative funding pledge of £20bn for the NHS could pose a greater threat to the authority.

Cllr Harker said a risk assessment had not been prepared by the council as “there is so little information coming out of Government”.

He said: “Some local authorities have done some work on it, as far as I am aware a lot of it is guesswork, presumptions about what the consequences are. The fact is it’s 187 days before it happens and we still don’t know what’s going to happen, we don’t know whether there’s going to be a deal or whether there’s going to be not a deal. Frankly, sitting down and making hard decisions about what the consequences are for a local authority is almost nigh-on impossible.”

He said while everybody would agree the £20bn for the NHS was “marvellous”, there was no information where the funding would come from and it had been suggested local authorities would be among the areas targeted to generate the money.