Remember the refrain of “No deal is better than a bad deal”? Well, this week we have seen how utterly ridiculous and terribly frightening that concept is.

Whitehall’s “Doomsday Brexit” scenario predicted shortages of medicines, food and fuel –within two weeks of leaving the EU. This should have sent a shiver down everyone’s spine, yet it was glibly ignored by Brexiteers on the Tory back benches. I do not remember Brexiteers adopting the catchphrase of “Armageddon scenario” and plastering it on the side of their campaign bus. I should have seen their response coming but I cannot believe that supposedly rational people, paid to act in the best interest of their constituents, can avoid every bit of evidence they don’t like.

Brexiteers will dismiss the latest report as project fear, when this is actually a frightening reality.

Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An abandoned shop is seen in Mullan, Co Monaghan. The building was home to four families who left during the Troubles. The town was largely abandoned after the hard border was put in place during the conflict. Mullan has seen some regeneration in recent years, but faces an uncertain future with Brexit on the horizon Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A defaced ‘Welcome to Northern Ireland’ sign stands on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Mervyn Johnson owns a garage in the border town of Pettigo, which straddles the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh. ‘I’ve been here since 1956, it was a bit of a problem for a few years. My premises has been blown up about six or seven times, we just kept building and starting again,’ Johnson said laughing. ‘We just got used to it [the hard border] really but now that it’s gone, we wouldn't like it back again’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Farmer Gordon Crockett’s Coshquin farm straddles both Derry/Londonderry in the North and Donegal in the Republic. ‘At the minute there is no real problem, you can cross the border as free as you want. We could cross it six or eight times a day,’ said Crockett. ‘If there was any sort of obstruction it would slow down our work every day’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures John Murphy flies the European flag outside his home near the border village of Forkhill, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Potter Brenda McGinn stands outside her Mullan, Co Monaghan, studio – the former Jas Boylan shoe factory which was the main employer in the area until it shut down due to the Troubles. ‘When I came back, this would have been somewhere you would have driven through and have been quite sad. It was a decrepit looking village,’ said McGinn, whose Busy Bee Ceramics is one of a handful of enterprises restoring life to the community. ‘Now this is a revitalised, old hidden village’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Union Flag colours painted on kerbstones and bus-stops along the border village of Newbuildings, Co Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Grass reflected in Lattone Lough, which is split by the border between Cavan and Fermanagh, seen from near Ballinacor, Northern Ireland Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Donegalman David McClintock sits in the Border Cafe in the village of Muff, which straddles Donegal and Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An old Irish phone box stands alongside a bus stop in the border town of Glaslough, Co Monaghan Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Billboards are viewed from inside a disused customs hut in Carrickcarnon, Co Down, on the border with Co Louth in the Republic Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Seamus McQuaid takes packages that locals on the Irish side of the border have delivered to his business, McQuaid Auto-Parts, to save money on postal fees, near the Co Fermanagh village of Newtownbutler. ‘I live in the south but the business is in the North,’ said McQaid. "I wholesale into the Republic of Ireland so if there’s duty, I’ll have to set up a company 200 yards up the road to sell to my customers. I’ll have to bring the same product in through Dublin instead of Belfast’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A disused Great Northern Railway line and station that was for customs and excise on the border town of Glenfarne, Co Leitrim Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Alice Mullen, from Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, does her shopping at a former customs post on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh. ‘I’d be very worried if it was a hard border, I remember when people were divided. I would be very afraid of the threat to the peace process, it was a dreadful time to live through. Even to go to mass on a Sunday, you’d have to go through checkpoints. It is terribly stressful,’ said Mullen. ‘All those barricades and boundaries were pulled down. I see it as a huge big exercise of trust and I do believe everyone breathed a sigh of relief’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A bus stop and red post box stand in the border town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh Reuters

I guess Jacob Rees-Mogg’s only Brexit-related concern is an avocado shortage and Prosecco being rationed at the Tory Black and White Ball. While most people worry about the NHS, food or petrol, these Brexiteers live in their ivory towers – or, to be honest – palatial estates.

But at least we will get a blue passport and maybe even a Brexit stamp. I guess that is decent compensation for the biggest act of economic self-harm in a generation.

This government cannot make the trains run on time. I would not let these people run me a bath, let alone the most complex negotiation in modern history.

The documents released to The Sunday Times are said to have been written for the Inter-Ministerial Group on Preparedness by civil servants at the Department for Exiting the EU, Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Transport.

They were leaked by officials concerned by Brexiteers' confidence about the UK's prospects if it left the EU without a deal. Even Mauritania has an EU fisheries deal – it comes to something when pig-headed Brexiteers want to be below Mauritania in trade. But I guess we shouldn’t worry: Liam Fox is on the case.

The important point is Brexiteers said that this would be easy, that we could leave and enter a post-Brexit nirvana, a land of milk and honey that will satisfy their ideological dogma and make the people happy. Sadly, this deluded dream has run out of steam.

Best for Britain, a group that I am involved with, is campaigning against Brexit and is working against this delusion. They are working across party lines to secure a vote on the final Brexit deal, with an option to remain in the EU.

The government should publish this document and stop pretending it doesn't exist. This drives a stake through any remaining pretence of government competence. This is no joke. Our public services face the prospect of collapse if a “no deal” Brexit happens.

We can now see that the government is driving us all towards disaster, and they know it, too. It is utterly reckless that ministers continue to make these decisions, having read these reports (or at least we hope they have), with the damning consequences laid out to them in black and white.

A no deal Brexit could bring Britain to a grinding halt and threaten the wellbeing of our country. No one voted for that. I doubt even the staunchest Leavers want that. That’s why the people should be given the final say on the Brexit deal, with the option to stay and lead within the EU.