Amber Rudd compares Eurosceptics to climate change deniers as she warns over 'sobering risks' of no-deal Brexit

A former cabinet minister has compared Brexiteers to climate change deniers as she fired off a warning over the “sobering risks” to the economy if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal.

Amber Rudd, the ex-home secretary, said the government must heed advice from businesses and economists to prevent a “chaotic Brexit” and said anyone who claimed the process was easy was “being as cavalier with people’s future” as climate sceptics.

Her comments came amid reports ministers were considering bringing in the army to deliver food and medical supplies in the event of a no-deal Brexit, as such a scenario appears to become likely.

It comes after The Independent launched its Final Say campaign for a public vote on the Brexit deal, which attracted more than 300,000 signatures in support in the first 48 hours.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Ms Rudd, a former energy secretary, said: “Yes, we will leave the EU’s political institutions in March next year – we will no longer have MEPs or be members of the European Council. But disentangling regulatory and legal systems that have been entwined for more than 40 years will require delicate diplomacy.

“Such an endeavour will not be straightforward. Anyone who claims it will is being as cavalier with people’s future as those who deny that the belching of fossil fuels into the atmosphere is warming the planet.

“Just as we must listen to scientific warnings about the risks of manmade climate change, so we must listen to the businesses and economists warning that a chaotic Brexit will threaten our economy.”

Theresa May has said voters should be “take reassurance and comfort” from the government’s no-deal planning, as details emerged over proposals to stockpile food, medicines and fuel in case supply chains are disrupted.

Under the plans, ministers are considering drafting the army in to help deliver supplies to hard-to-reach areas outside of the southeast of England, according to The Sunday Times.

Supermarkets have already dismissed suggestions that they stock up on adequate food supplies as “impractical”.

The British Retail Consortium, the trade association, said: “Retailers do not have the facilities to house stockpiled goods and, in the case of fresh produce, it is simply not possible to do so.

“Our food supply chains are extremely fragile and this is yet further demonstration of the need for an agreement on the backstop to ensure frictionless trade is maintained after 29 March 2019.”

Doctors have also warned that cancer patients could face potentially dangerous delays to their treatment if critical supplies of medical isotopes are held up at the border.

Dr Jeanette Dickson, vice president of clinical oncology at the Royal College of Radiologists, said: “These medicines are like a burning fuse.

“They start off with a certain amount of radioactivity and you have a set time to get them to hospital when they are still effective. If you delay them for a few hours, you begin to lose activity.”

Health secretary Matt Hancock has said that ministers are looking at plans to stockpile medical supplies, vaccinations and blood products.

A Department of Health spokesman said: “The UK’s ability to import medical isotopes from Europe and the rest of the world will not be affected.”

Earlier, Sir Michael Rawlins, the chair of the UK medicines regulator, said millions of diabetes patients could be “seriously disadvantaged” if supplies of insulin were disrupted.