BRUSSELS: The European Union on Monday told small businesses to prepare for more bureaucracy and costs should Britain crash out of the bloc without a deal, the latest step in its contingency plans reflecting the potential impact of a hard Brexit.

Economy Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said the risk of a no-deal Brexit was increasing and that checks on goods moving between the EU and the United Kingdom would be introduced immediately should that scenario come true.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2019