Government incompetence is causing ‘chaos’ within councils that have been ordered to plan for Brexit, a town hall boss has warned.

Stockport council leader Alex Ganotis said local authorities had been told to prepare for leaving the EU in less than 50 days ‘without telling us what to plan for’.

He was speaking at the latest meeting of the combined authority, at which Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese said huge anxiety remains among businesses in the region over what happens when Britain leaves.

While Greater Manchester had been doing its best to prepare, he said, ‘it’s not a happy story at the moment by any stretch of the imagination’.

Local leaders were meeting with just 43 days left on the clock before March 29 and no clear plan in Westminster about what will happen.

Coun Ganotis said government had been very clear that councils were expected to plan, however, just not what they were planning for.

“There are six weeks left until we are due to leave the EU and the government clearly has no plan over crucial, crucial areas of the way this country is run and the way this country works,” he said.

“And yet they are being very clear with local authorities that local authorities need to plan for Brexit.

“We need to make sure our council supports our communities after Brexit, but without telling us what to plan for, exactly what resources will be required, and exactly what the impact will be on our areas.

“We as councils have to take our responsibilities to residents seriously – and in a way that this government is not taking its responsibilities towards British citizens seriously, because it’s in hoc to a group of fanatics that do not care about ordinary people and the way they go about their lives.”

Reeling off a list of potential issues faced by councils, he said government had announced a funding package for town halls, but that it was ‘far, far less’ than would be needed.

“So we are going to have to find funding within our own councils that we would have otherwise put to other uses in terms of frontline services to provide for and fund Brexit,” he said.

“But in terms of what exactly we do, we still don’t know.

“Areas around staffing – local authority staffing, staffing of our contracted services, of care workers are a very good example of that.

“Civil resilience, our regulatory responsibilities, especially in term of product regulation, the services we provide to people from EU countries who don’t know where they will stand, the support we provide for people in terms of employment, as well as keeping things going in the event of Brexit.

“We are going to have to plan for all of this as local authorities and it’s causing chaos.

“And I think the government needs to understand the hypocrisy of what they are putting on local authorities.”

Greater Manchester leaders have been receiving regular updates since June 2016 about the potential effects Brexit is having – or will have – on the local economy, including local efforts to support businesses worried about the impact.

The government has refused to share its exact economic impact assessment for the area, however, with councils instead drawing up their own – suggesting more than £8bn could be wiped off the conurbation’s economy in the next 15 years in the event of a no deal.

Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese, who is in charge of economic issues for the region, said the current picture was bleak.

“It goes without saying that at a time when the performance of the economy is at its lowest point since the recession, there’s an enormous amount of anxiety amongst businesses and still a lot of concern about a lack of preparedness in business even though we are now days rather than months away from March 29,” he said.

Pointing to Greater Manchester’s 60,000 EU citizens, he said the potential effects could be particularly problematic for ‘sensitive’ areas such as the NHS that rely upon them for staffing.

However planes would not be grounded, he said, as Manchester Airport had plans in place for flights to continue even in the event of a no-deal.

But he added: “I’ve come to dread this item, to be honest.

“As someone who’s been in active politics for most of my adult life, I have to confess I’m now completely confused as to how our parliamentary democracy – how representative government works.

“If any of the leaders around this council chamber at the moment, if we were to ignore our councils in the way the PM ignores parliament we wouldn’t last five minutes.

“I tend to wonder what parliament is for, because they keep passing votes and the PM keeps saying ‘I’m right, I’m going to ignore them’.