LONDON - British government ministers have agreed that preparing for a no-deal Brexit will be their operational priority and companies need to take the possibility of a sudden exit from the European Union much more seriously, Britain's Brexit minister said.

"At cabinet today, we agreed that preparing for 'no deal' will be an operational priority within government, but our overall priority remains to secure a deal," Stephen Barclay told Sky News television on Tuesday.

(Reporting by William Schomberg and Alistair Smout; editing by Stephen Addison) ((william.schomberg@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 7778; Reuters Messaging: william.schomberg.reuters.com@reuters.net))