Now Tesco is stockpiling goods in the UK ahead of a No Deal Brexit
TESCO has joined other businesses in stockpiling goods in case of a No Deal Brexit, its CEO revealed today.
But the UK's biggest supermarket said stocking up fresh food would be "hard" to do.
Dave Lewis said this morning that it had strong Christmas sales and like-for-like sales grew by 1.9 per cent in the third quarter of last year.
And he confirmed that "sensible" planning for Brexit is currently underway.
Tesco is working with suppliers but it was "hard to contingency for fresh food,
“We are making contingency plans now that Christmas is behind us," Mr Lewis added.
"We are working with our suppliers to think through sensible opportunities to improve stock-holding closer to the market.
"So we’ll utilise the space that we have where that makes sense. So I think I would say sensible contingency plans are in place like everybody not knowing what the final outcome would be."
He went on to stress the importance of free trade for firms like his: "Like other retailers, we'd be keen that there is no friction at the border given the UK imports half of the fresh food it eats."
Last month the Government were telling the UK's major supermarkets to maximise their stockpiles before we leave the EU.
Other companies including Premier Goods, the company behind Bisto and Mr Kipling, as well as Airbus and pharma firm AstraZeneca, are also stocking up.
Mondelez, owner of Cadbury, is also gathering supplies of ingredients, chocolates and biscuits.
Ministers said that at least six months of disruption could occur and wants everyone to plan as much as possible.
Tesco has delivered stock holding plans to their suppliers to kick start the plans.
This week ministers unveiled a new radio advert to Brits to drive them to find out more about a No Deal Brexit.
But it sparked fury by providing more questions than answers.
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The news that Tesco is also stockpiling comes just days after MPs rebelled to try and block No Deal in the Houses of Commons.
An amendment put down by Remainers will stop ministers from changing taxes if we leave without an agreement in place.
While the Government accepted it won't have a lot of impact practically, it shows there's a group of MPs who are not willing to let us leave with nothing.
They have vowed to do all they can to push a form of deal through the Commons.
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