Police Scotland has introduced contingency plans to deal with any violent unrest after a no-deal Brexit

A holiday ban has been imposed on Scottish police officers after Brexit, amid fears of riots, disorder and shortages of food and medicines.

Annual leave will be granted only in exceptional circumstances in the weeks after March 29, when Britain is due to leave the European Union, as part of Police Scotland’s contingency plans to deal with violent unrest and disruption to flights and essential supplies.

The head of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), which represents frontline officers, warned that chaos was likely in the event of a hard Brexit.

Scotland’s national force has already postponed plans to cut 300 posts, and pledged to hire 120 additional officers; recruits are being trained for deployment to Northern Ireland to deal with potential unrest arising from moves