Britain will probably have to delay its departure from the EU if MPs reject the government’s proposed divorce deal in a vote next week, Finance Minister, Philip Hammond, said on Thursday.
Unless Prime Minister Theresa May can get her divorce treaty approved by the British parliament, then MPs will have to decide whether
to delay Brexit or thrust the world’s fifth largest economy into chaos by leaving without a deal.
“The government is very clear where the will of parliament is on this. Parliament will vote not to leave the EU without a deal. I have a
high degree of confidence about that,’’ Hammond said.
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Britain is due to leave the EU in 22 days, but if MPs reject the deal this will put in doubt how, when or possibly even if Britain’s biggest
foreign and trade policy shift in almost half a century will take place.
Hammond warned eurosceptic colleagues if they fail to back the government’s deal they face the risk of a closer economic relationship
with the EU.
“We will then be in unknown territory where a consensus will have to be forged across the House of Commons and that will inevitably
mean compromises being made,” he said.
“The way for my colleagues to avoid that is to vote for the deal.’’
MPs on January 15 voted 432-202 against her deal, the worst government defeat in modern British parliamentary history.
It was the worst defeat in parliamentary history, largely due to the Irish backstop, which is intended to avoid the return of hard border
between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
Talks with Britain on amending its divorce deal with the EU have made no headway and no swift solution is in sight, EU officials said on
Wednesday.
Britain wants legally binding changes to the backstop to ensure it will not be indefinite, to allay concerns among MPs that Britain
would be locked in a continued customs union with the EU.
When asked if Hammond would leave the government if May decided to leave without a deal, he said: “I have always said that I
believe it would be a very bad outcome for the UK to leave the EU without a deal.” (NAN)