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Councils are preparing for social unrest after Brexit, as local authorities draft plans for handling our departure from the EU.

One document prepared by Bristol City Council warns of a “top-line threat” of “social unrest or disillusionment during/after negotiations as neither Leave nor Remain voters feel their concerns are being met.”

A Sky News report revealed on Tuesday that Dover District Council and Kent County Council are preparing for a 13-mile Brexit lorry park on the M20 southbound to be in place for at least four years.

Similar concerns from councils the length and breadth of the UK have now emerged over how to provide food, social care, medicines and border controls.

Anglesey, home to Holyhead port, is one of several port authorities also concerned about a need for lorry parking after Brexit, Sky News found.

(Image: AFP)

Pembrokeshire County Council's risk register details how new border controls "may affect the ready availability of vital supplies", including food and medicine.

The risk register also warns of "increased bad debt" due to a "widely predicted economic downturn" and "continued austerity", as well as a threat to existing and future EU-funded regeneration programmes.

A Shetland Islands Council document focuses on farming, with a dramatic rise forecast in loss-making sheep farms - from 50% now to 86% in a no-deal Brexit - due to tariffs on lamb.

Bristol City Council warns of a "top-line threat" of "social unrest or disillusionment during/after negotiations as neither Leave nor Remain voters feel their concerns are being met".

East Sussex County Council was among several authorities expressing concern about the impact on the provision of social care after Brexit.

Sky News also found almost all councils expressed significant concern about how the Treasury will replace crucial EU structural and regional funds - particularly now the PM has promised any money that might materialise after Brexit to the NHS.

Another common feature is exasperation that councils do not know what to plan for as they wait for the Government to agree a deal.

Labour MP Seema Malhotra, who sits on the Brexit select committee, said: "This is a shocking a dereliction of duty and the Government needs to get a grip.

"They are failing to prepare the country for what has become a mess of their own making.

"Now local authorities are starting to prepare for the worst. No deal will hit our public services hard, food prices will go up and medicines could be delayed.

"People didn’t vote to be poorer but that is what is set to happen. It’s not too late for the government to change course and make a start by saying no to no deal."