Britain faces the “catastrophic prospect” of a no-deal Brexit next month due to the selfishness of some politicians and chaotic parliamentary proceedings, the head of the country’s main manufacturing association said on Tuesday.

Let me be clear for those hard Brexiteers who accuse us of scaremongering. This is very real and very serious,” Make UK’s chair, Judith Hackitt, said in remarks ahead of the group’s annual conference.

Finance minister Philip Hammond and business minister Greg Clark who are on the pro-European wing of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party as well as opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, are due to address the conference.

Corbyn intends to call again for May to back his proposal for a permanent customs union with the European Union and full guarantees for existing worker and consumer rights. He plans to meet chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier this week.

“Some of our politicians have put selfish political ideology ahead of the national interest and people’s livelihoods and left us facing the catastrophic prospect of leaving the EU next month with no deal,” Hackitt said.

British manufacturers are facing a global slowdown as well as Brexit uncertainty. Official data last week showed their output fell by the most in over five years in the final quarter of 2018.

Some 49 per cent of 429 manufacturers surveyed for Make UK said a no-deal Brexit would make Britain unattractive, compared with 28 per cent who said Britain would still be an attractive location, with bigger companies more likely to express concerns.