Amazon Warns No Deal Brexit Risks ‘Civil Unrest,’ Times Reports

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc.’s U.K. head, Doug Gurr, said there could be “civil unrest” within two weeks if Britain leaves the European Union with no deal, the London-based Times reported.

Amazon U.K. became the first business to issue such a warning, the newspaper reported, adding that it was given at a meeting on Friday organized by Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab.

Gurr told other guests, who included representatives of Britain’s largest businesses, that this worst-case outcome formed part of his contingency planning, according to the newspaper.

An unidentified spokesman for Amazon declined to confirm or deny the comments, the Times said. Like any business, Amazon considers “a wide range of scenarios” in planning discussions so that it’s prepared to continue serving customers and small businesses who count on Amazon, even if those scenarios are “very unlikely,” the Times cited the spokesman as saying.

To contact the reporter on this story: Colin Keatinge in Tokyo at ckeatinge@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Emma Ross-Thomas at erossthomas@bloomberg.net

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