Brexit bum’s rush: No-deal could wipe out toilet paper stocks

“In the event of no-deal, the government will prioritise the flow of goods at the border while continuing to take a risk-based approach to controls and checks on goods to minimise additional friction.”

He added: “We will continue to work to make sure we have the best possible preparation to support the flow of goods.”

But Mr Edwards suggested Mr Hart was guilty of a tissue of lies: “This is the farcical level we have descended to,” he said.

“The British government can no longer even guarantee we have the necessary supplies of toilet paper in a crash-out Brexit.

“It’s already said it’s willing to flush the economy down the toilet, but now we won’t have the paper to clean up after.

“As much as this revelation lends itself to toilet humour, it shows the serious damage a no-deal Brexit would do, even to our most basic of supplies.”

The chain of parliamentary exchanges prompted Essity, which makes the Velvet and Cushelle toilet paper brands for the UK market, to say it was developing “robust contingency plans” across its supply chain to cope with no-deal, but warned that stocks were “not unlimited”.