Jeremy Hunt has insisted that Britain would “survive and prosper” after a no-deal Brexit, the day after describing such an exit from the EU as a “mistake we would regret for generations”.
The Foreign Secretary said that failure to hammer out a deal with the UK would be “a big mistake for Europe”.
He insisted the Government would only sign up to a deal that respected the result of the 2016 election.
Mr Hunt had been criticised by Brexiteer MPs after an interview with ITV News on Thursday in which he appeared to play up the risks of leaving the EU in March without a deal.
In a tweet sent on Friday morning Mr Hunt said: “Important not to misrepresent my words: Britain WOULD survive and prosper without a deal… but it would be a big mistake for Europe because of inevitable impact on long term partnership with UK.
“We will only sign up to deal that respects referendum result.”
Speaking earlier to ITV Mr Hunt had discussed the risks of no proper negotiated deal, saying: “It would be a mistake we would regret for generations, if we had a messy, ugly divorce, and would inevitably change British attitudes towards Europe.”
When asked whether he was presenting the Government’s Brexit plan as “take it or leave it”, Mr Hunt answered: “No, but it is a framework on which I believe the ultimate deal will be based and I’ve been to several countries and met seven foreign ministers and am meeting more in the weeks ahead and I’m getting a strong sense that not just in Holland but in many of the places I’ve visited that they do want to engage seriously to try and find a way through to try and get a pragmatic outcome.”
He also revealed that the Government would consider EU proposals that demanded accepting European environmental and social legislation, in order to facilitate a free trade agreement.
Fellow Tory Conor Burns told the Telegraph that “the thing that we want to avoid for ‘generations to come’ is being locked into a permanent orbit around the EU where we end up with a deal but don’t have a seat around the table”.
The Danish finance minister on Friday echoed warnings that there is an even chance of the UK crashing out of the European Union without a deal.
Kristian Jensen said time is running out to strike a deal that is positive for both Britain and the EU, after Latvia’s foreign minister claimed the chance of a no-deal Brexit is “50-50”.
Earlier this week, Edgars Rinkevics said there was a “very considerable risk” of a no-deal scenario but stressed he remained optimistic an agreement with Britain on its withdrawal from the European Union could be reached.
Mr Jensen, appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, was asked about Mr Rinkevics’ remarks.
He said: “I also believe that 50-50 is a very good assessment because time is running out and we need to move really fast if we’ve got to strike a deal that is positive both for the UK and EU.
“Every forces who wants there to be a good deal needs to put in some effort in the months to come otherwise I’m afraid that time will run out.”
He went on to describe Theresa May’s Chequers plan as a “realistic proposal for good negotiations”.
“We need to go into a lot of details but I think it’s a very positive step forward and a necessary step,” he told the programme.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel