Friday 19 October 2018 1:44 pm | Updated: Tuesday 21 May 2019 4:22 pm

Toyota president Akio Toyoda warns Britain to avoid no-deal Brexit ‘at all costs’

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Toyota president Akio Toyoda has warned that a no-deal Brexit should be avoided at all costs.

Speaking as chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) Toyoda said that if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal it will "adversely affect" corporate activities and consumers and urged both sides to work towards a deal.

JAMA member companies operate 14 production plants and 17 research and development and design centres across the EU, producing 1.5m vehicles a year and employing 170,000 people, he said.

Toyoda, who has worked for the car manufacturing giant for more than 20 years said: "For those contributions to continue, it is necessary that an unimpaired trade environment between the United Kingdom and the European Union be maintained and that the automobile industry’s activities remain predicated on shared standards, including those regulating vehicle certification."

He added: "We hope that both the UK and EU governments will continue to make maximum efforts to reach a satisfactory settlement and that a “withdrawal without agreement” is avoided at all costs."

His warning came on the same day that ferry firm Stena Line warned that a no-deal Brexit could have an impact on food supplies, and trade could bypass the UK as it flows directly from Ireland to the rest of Europe.

Stena Line senior executive Ian Hampton told the BBC this morning: "Anxiety is high, and we can only do so much. We can't plan on the basis of what we don't know, so we are very anxious about the outcome…maybe trade will start to flow directly from the Republic of Ireland to the continent and it will miss out the UK as a land bridge."