A royal college has said that drug supplies are "very largely secured" for the possibility of a no-deal departure from the EU.

In an update to doctors, Prof Russell Viner, the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said he had been "considerably reassured" by the Government's preparations for such an outcome.

Addressing more than 19,000 members, Prof Viner said that, contrary to many reports, there was no need to stockpile medicines and urged them to "dissuade patients from doing so."

In an email sent on Friday, Prof Viner, a professor of adolescent health at University College London, said: "I know that many of you will have been watching the news about Brexit, like I have, with feelings of uncertainty and increasing alarm. I felt it important to write to you directly about the implications for child and adolescent health and for our members."