Without an agreement to allow the continued transfer of data between the UK and the European Union, UK businesses would need to find other ways of retaining the movement of personal data within the EU, said Chris Combemale, group CEO of the Direct Marketing Association.

He said: “The challenges of a no-deal Brexit would be much more complicated for British businesses, as the disruption to the free flow of data between the UK and EU would be very damaging.”

If the UK leaves the EU without such an agreement, UK-based companies with EU customers could lose access to their own data, according to the DMA, as data transfers from would be prohibited.

The DMA is advocating for a deal to be established that would enable the free flow of data and also give the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) a voting place on the European Data Protection Board.

Combemale said: “A no-deal Brexit is antithetical to the interests of the data and marketing industry as a whole. A no-deal on data would cause immediate and complete ceasing of UK data-flows with EU countries, a practice through which enormous amounts of business is conducted – 75% of the UK’s cross-border data flows are with the EU.”