Hammond says no-deal Brexit could be 'default' scenario
UK finance minister Philip Hammond on Friday said a no-deal Brexit was “a default that we could find ourselves in” as MPs prepared for another vote on the Withdrawal agreement next Tuesday.
Speaking a day after warning business leaders the days of cheap, flexible labour would end when Britain left the EU at the end of March, Hammond said the resultant disruption would “settle down”.
He also said the EU may be ready to shift position on some of its red lines to help Prime Minister Theresa May get a withdrawal deal through parliament.
Talking about post-Brexit border delays, Hammond told the BBC: “We will find ways of managing things like the additional time it takes for trucks to get through the border.”
“But it might take us quite a while to sort that out. So there will be a short-term impact through disruption. There will be a long-term impact through a reduction in the size of our economy.”
Hammond said he European politicians "understand the challenge that we have got at home and generally - not all of them, but many of them - want to help".
"They are not prepared to compromise on the fundamental principles that the EU has set out, but they certainly are looking at whether there is anything they can do without compromising those principles."
“I clearly do not believe that making a choice to leave without a deal would be a responsible thing to do, but I recognise that that is potentially a default that we could find ourselves in.”
Hammond told a Confederation of British Industry event in Davos, Switzerland that companies had to accept that changes were coming as a result of the end of free movement of people.
In London, British trades union leaders came away from a Brexit meeting with Theresa May on Thursday with no agreement and a call for the prime minister to stop pandering to “the bad boys at the back of the class”.
As May continued to dig her heels in and refused to consider taking a no-deal scenario off the table, Trades Union Congress leader Frances O'Grady expressed concerns that pro-Brexit ultra-right supporters would use it to erode workers rights.
She also came under attack from businesses over her handling of Brexit, with the chief executive of Airbus calling it a “disgrace” and threatened to move wing manufacture out of the UK, while Ford predicted that no-deal would result in costs of $800m (£612m) during 2019 alone.
In Westminster, Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd defied May and renewed her demand for Conservative MPs to be given a free vote next week so that she could back an extension to Article 50. Parliament will debate a government motion on Tuesday where pro-EU members are expected to table amendments.
The depth of feeling over opposing the no-deal option was summed up by Business Minister Richard Harrington who welcomed the Airbus comments and challenged May to sack him.
“I really don’t believe in this idea (no-deal). I am very happy to be public about it and very happy if the prime minister decides I am not the right person to do the business industry job.”