Brexit no-deal impact assessment to be released by Bank of England next week

Changing publication dates will allow MPs to avail of Bank's analysis before any parliamentary vote on a Brexit deal

The Bank of England will release its assessment of the potential impact of a no-deal Brexit next week, at the request of MPs on the Treasury Select Committee.

The committee asked Threadneedle Street to provide an analysis of how the EU Withdrawal Agreement will “affect the Bank’s ability to deliver its statutory remits for monetary and financial stability, including in a 'no deal, no transition' scenario”.

The central bank said it had changed the date for publication of the results of its annual stress tests of the UK’s major banks - during which it analyses how the country’s biggest lenders would cope with a variety of risks.

The Bank’s Financial Stability Report will be published alongside the results of the stress tests on Wednesday, 28 December. They were previously scheduled to be released on 5 December.

The timing has been changed to allow politicians to look over the Bank’s assessment before any parliamentary votes on Brexit.

The Treasury Select Committee has previously asked the Bank to look at the scenario of transition to World Trade Organisation trading terms for the UK , which would be the default in the event of no deal.

The Bank’s governor, Mark Carney, told the TSC on Tuesday: “The question has to be: in 20 months would we be ready to have in place all the customs arrangements…that are necessary for a WTO trading relationship with the European Union?

"A transition to WTO could look like no-deal, no transition, or it could look more like a seamless move to WTO. We’ll just expose all that so you can have a proper assessment of it.”

Earlier this month Mr Carney said he did not think the risk of no-deal was high, and when asked whether the chance of a no-deal has now risen he said: “We’re going to find out relatively soon! Some of you may know already.”

“We’ve always operated from the view that this might happen so get the system prepared. We’ve been preparing for it since the day after the referendum effectively. We’re quietly confident that we have in place all the measures we could have in place.”