Ford’s European boss has said a no-deal Brexit “would be pretty disastrous” for British industry and could affect the company’s future in the UK.

Steven Armstrong said he was “still confident” a tariff-free frictionless trade deal would be done, but said a no-deal outcome would “force us to think about what our future investment strategy for the UK would be”.

Mr Armstrong said a deal based on the EU-Canada deal would not work for Ford.

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Sacha Romanovitch, the first UK female chief executive of a major City accountancy firm, will step down from Grant Thornton by the end of this year.

The company said Romanovitch would leave her job once a successor was identified.

“Following discussions with Sacha, the board has agreed that a new CEO is the logical next step to create long-term sustainable profits for the firm,” said Ed Warner, independent chair of Grant Thornton UK’s partnership oversight board.