British bank Barclays is preparing to pull the trigger on no-deal Brexit plans to shift assets worth €190bn to its Irish division.

It said it "cannot wait any longer" amid continuing political uncertainty, a UK High Court judgment has revealed.

The plans were drawn up by the bank in case of a no-deal scenario which would see UK financial services firms losing "passporting" rights that allow them to provide services across Europe.

Details of the move were revealed in a judgment by Mr Justice Richard Snowden that largely approved the "huge" transfer, which will apply to thousands of clients of the bank.

It said: "Due to the continuing uncertainty over whether there might be a no-deal Brexit, the Barclays group has determined that it cannot wait any longer to implement the scheme."

The judge added: "On any view, the scale of the transfer of business... is huge.

"The scheme will apply to about 5,000 clients... and on the basis of the accounts for 2017 it is estimated that about €190bn of external assets will be transferred."

The transfer represents a significant portion of Barclays group's total assets of €1.26tn.

The British judgment was published on Tuesday, on the same day British MPs voted to replace the Irish backstop agreement with "alternative arrangements".

Any such attempt has been shot down by the Irish Government, as well as EU leaders and negotiators.

File photo shows the Barclays logo on a building in New York | Image: Richard B. Levine/SIPA USA/PA Images

UK business groups remain frustrated at the continued uncertainty, with the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Carolyn Fairbairn, describing renegotiation as a "throw of the dice".

She added: "Until MPs can agree a solution, the threat of no deal will continue to drain money from the UK."

Financial services companies have been planning for how to cope with losing passporting rights to do business across the remaining 27 EU member states.

A number of banks have responded by shifting parts of their businesses to EU countries - including Ireland and France and in some cases shifting hundreds of staff.

Several other large financial entities, including Bank of America, have transferred more operations and functions to Ireland as a result of Brexit.

Barclays' plan to transfer assets to Ireland is "based upon the assumption that there will be no favourable outcome of the current political negotiations between the UK and the EU as regards passporting or the grant of equivalence status to the UK in respect of financial services".

It covers clients of two companies within Barclays group that are currently based in the UK and provide corporate, investment and private banking services as well as operating branches in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.

The transfer covers clients selected on the basis that, after Brexit, European authorities might take the view that Barclays "no longer had any authorisation to carry out" banking activities on their behalf.

Barclays has previously announced that it plans to double its Irish workforce by the end of 2019.