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One in Six Britons Considers Stockpiling Food and Medicine for Brexit

One in Six Britons Considers Stockpiling Food and Medicine for Brexit

(Bloomberg) -- One out of every six Britons has begun or is likely to start stockpiling food and medicine as worries grow that the U.K. will leave the European Union in March without a deal, a survey shows.

Consumers are taking matters into their own hands as they prepare for a parliamentary vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit agreement, which appears headed for defeat. While the government puts aside more than 2 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) of funding for Brexit planning, and supermarkets and businesses stockpile goods, many households fear the effects of a chaotic EU exit.

Four percent of more than 1,100 people surveyed have begun stockpiling and 13 percent are likely to store goods, according to data from Kantar Public, compiled Jan. 10 through 14 and provided to Bloomberg. The total of 17 percent is up 2 percentage points from a previous survey in October.

Men are three times more likely to squirrel away provisions than women and more 18- to 24-year-olds have stored food and medicine than any other age group.

One in Six Britons Considers Stockpiling Food and Medicine for Brexit

Sales of cupboard food have jumped 30 percent from a year earlier, with jarred vegetables up 16 percent, according to Kantar, a research firm that’s owned by WPP Plc. Tesco Plc and Marks & Spencer Group Plc each raised concerns over their ability to stockpile fresh fruit and vegetables in the runup to the March 29 Brexit deadline, so shoppers are laying in alternatives.

Brexit is also making people cautious in other areas. Thirty percent have reduced spending, or are likely to, on leisure activities and eating out, the survey shows. Ten percent are looking for new employment, as Jaguar Land Rover and Ford Motor Co. have announced they’ll cut thousands of jobs in response to a sales slowdown in Europe that’s been exacerbated in the U.K. by side effects of Brexit.

--With assistance from Joe Mayes.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ellen Milligan in London at emilligan11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Eric Pfanner at epfanner1@bloomberg.net, Kenneth Wong

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