COUNCILS in Cumbria have not been awarded sufficient money to prepare for a no deal Brexit, a meeting has heard.

The Government has set aside £3 billion and has awarded Cumbria County Council £175,000 over two years, or £87,500 a year.

District councils, including Barrow, Copeland and South Lakeland, have been given £35,000 over two years, or £17,500 a year.

Cllr Stewart Young, leader of the county council, said the rest of the cash was being “swallowed up by an army of civil servants and consultants”.

He said the Government had published more than 100 documents about how councils should prepare for a no deal, which he called “impenetrable”.

Cllr Young told a meeting of the full council there had been three years to prepare but the Government had launched a “flurry of activity” before Christmas and the New Year.

“The Government isn’t prepared and they are now asking local authorities to do the preparatory work within three months with totally inadequate resources,” said Cllr Young.

“If you ask me whether that is sufficient on a scale of one to ten, I would say two out of 10. We will do our best, our officers are attending meetings and making contingency plans but we need to be clear that a no deal Brexit will cause major disruption and economic damage to Cumbria.”

Deputy council leader Cllr Peter Thornton, for the Liberal Democrats, said many of the county’s businesses are “inextricably linked” to Europe.

Cllr Thornton said: “Let’s be honest, a no deal Brexit could be disastrous. To their credit, all of our Cumbrian MPs recognise this and the hope is they can make sure our vital links with Europe are preserved for the sake of the Cumbrian economy. Brexit is overwhelming the capacity of our Government to carry out its day-to-day responsibilities.”

Cllr James Airey, the opposition Conservative, called the warnings another round of Project Fear.

He said 55 per cent of the electorate in Cumbria had voted leave and that Britain’s relationship with the EU had become a “bad” one.

“It’s a relationship based on the EU taking exactly what they want and ignoring all the things that matter to Britain,” said Cllr Airey, the Conservative councillor for Ulverston West.

“A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. At 11pm on 29th March, we will remove the shackles of the EU and return law-making to parliament and set our great nation free.”