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Britain risks a no-deal recession so severe that it sends shockwaves across Europe and beyond, leading economists warned today as Brexit talks failed to achieve the necessary breakthrough.

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development added that even if Theresa May squeaks her proposed Brexit deal through Parliament, the economy will grow by less than one per cent both this year and next.

The dire forecast came as diplomats said the EU does not expect a Brexit deal this week after discussions between Brussels chief negotiator Michel Barnier and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox on the Northern Ireland border backstop row. “We are preparing for a working weekend,” one official said.

Mr Cox said the talks had been “robust” and defended the UK proposals as “very reasonable”.

In other developments:

Senior radiologists warned there could be delays to cancer testing and treatment whatever the outcome of the Brexit votes next week, as hospitals are having to prepare for the risk of no deal and so may book in fewer patients.

America’s ambassador to the UK Woody Johnson said Britain would have to accept US agricultural goods as part of any trade deal despite the controversies over chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-injected beef.

Business Secretary Greg Clark told of “big implications” for sectors of the economy amid reports of a bonfire of thousands of tariffs in the event of a no-deal departure to limit trade chaos.

The OECD believes higher tariffs from having to do business on World Trade Organisation terms after a no-deal Brexit would wipe about two per cent off UK GDP in the two years after leaving. “The effects could be stronger still if a lack of adequate border infrastructure and a loss of access to EU trade arrangements with third countries were to cause serious bottlenecks in integrated cross-border supply chains,” the Paris-based think tank added.

“The costs would also be magnified if this also induced a further decline in business and financial market confidence and disruptions in financial markets.

“In such a scenario, the likely near-term recession in the United Kingdom would generate sizeable negative spillovers on growth in other countries.”

Contingency plans for a chaotic Brexit are being put in place on both sides of the Channel.

But the economists stressed: “UK-EU separation without an agreement would still be a major adverse shock for Europe and possibly elsewhere in the world, given that the United Kingdom is an important trading partner for many countries.”

Speaking after talks in Brussels, Mr Cox said the negotiations were at a “very sensitive” stage.

“We are into the meat of the matter now. We have put forward some very reasonable proposals and we are now really into the detail of the discussion. Both sides have exchanged robust, strong views and we are now facing the real discussions,” he added.

If it takes until the weekend to reach a deal, Mrs May could only present it to Parliament on Monday, the day before the “meaningful vote” on her Brexit blueprint.

British ministers have recently heightened their warnings about the dangers of a no deal as the threats posed to trade, food supplies and even medicines have become clearer.

Amid a global slowdown in economic growth, the OECD predicted UK GDP growth would be just 0.8 per cent this year, lopping 0.6 off its November forecast. For 2020 it was cut by 0.2 to 0.9 per cent. “The still-strong labour market continues to support household spending, but persisting uncertainty about Brexit and the ongoing growth slowdown in the euro area are weighing on business confidence, investment and export prospects,” the economists explained.

Such dismal figures would mean the UK growing slower than the eurozone as a whole, which is predicted to be one per cent this year and 1.2 per cent for the following 12 months, down by 0.8 and 0.4 respectively.

Predicted German growth was more than halved, down from 1.6 per cent to 0.7 per cent this year, though it was then due to overtake the UK in 2020 with a forecast of 1.1 per cent. France is set to grow by 1.3 per cent in both years.

A number of Tory Right-wingers who are fearful of Brexit not happening at all are increasingly keen to back Mrs May’s deal if she can offer some meaningful change on the backstop.

However, No10 appeared to be having more problems in winning over Labour MPs in Leave constituencies despite the £1.6 billion fund for towns in struggling communities, which has been dismissed as “bribes”, and pledges on workers’ rights.

Wigan MP Lisa Nandy expects less than a dozen of her colleagues to support the Government given that Mrs May’s proposals are so vague on the future trade deal with the EU. The OECD interim March report also stressed that a move to WTO trading terms would impact EU nations to a differing extent, with Ireland, the Netherlands and Denmark facing “significant adjustment costs in particular regions or sectors”.