Brexit without a trade deal would lead to civil unrest within two weeks, Amazon’s top U.K. manager said. The Times reported Doug Gurr, head of U.K. and Ireland business for Amazon, privately met with Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and other business leaders on Friday.
Amazon (AMZN) had pledged to create an additional 2,500 jobs in the United Kingdom this year, bringing the total to 27,500. Gurr told The Guardian last month Amazon has invested £9.3 billion ($12.2 billion) in its UK operations since 2010.
Businesses are increasingly worried about the possibility of a no-deal Brexit in March 2019, including Airbus and Jaguar Land Rover. Dublin-based budget airline Ryanair said today “we believe that the risk of a hard Brexit is being underestimated.”
Raab, who became Brexit secretary just this month after David Davis’s resignation, has said the U.K. will not pay the £39 billion divorce fee to Brussels without an EU trade deal.
When contacted by Fortune, an Amazon spokesman did not confirm or deny Gurr’s specific comments as reported by The Times. “Like any business, we consider a wide range of scenarios in planning discussions so that we’re prepared to continue serving customers and small businesses who count on Amazon, even if those scenarios are very unlikely,” the spokesman told Fortune. “This is not specific to any one issue — it’s the way we plan for any number of issues around the world.”
