UK likely to suffer long recession after no-deal Brexit - S&P

LONDON (Reuters) - A no-deal Brexit would likely tip Britain into a recession that could last more than a year, credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's said on Tuesday.

While its base case was that London and Brussels would agree a withdrawal deal ahead of the March 2019 deadline, the risk of a no-deal had now become large enough to take into consideration in assessing Britain's creditworthiness, S&P said.

"In the scenario of a no-deal Brexit, our calculations indicate the UK would experience a moderate recession lasting four to five quarters, with GDP contracting by 1.2 percent in 2019 and 1.5 percent in 2020," S&P said in a statement.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)