UK PM seeks new Brexit deal

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called on the European Union to “rethink” its refusal to renegotiate the Brexit deal, as he pledged to throw all his energy into making sure Britain leaves the bloc on time on Oct. 31.

Addressing a rowdy session of Parliament for the first time since becoming prime minister, Johnson pledged Thursday to take a new approach.

Rejecting the Brexit withdrawal agreement negotiated by his fellow Conservative predecessor, Theresa May, he insisted that while he wanted a deal, the country was better prepared than widely believed to leave the bloc without one.

“I hope that the EU will be equally ready and that they will rethink their current refusal to make any changes to the Withdrawal Agreement,” he said. “If they do not, we will, of course, have to leave – the U.K. – without an agreement.”

Johnson has less than 100 days to make good on his promise to deliver Brexit by Oct. 31 after what he called “three years of unfounded self-doubt” under May’s government.

Yet Britain will struggle to get the bloc’s full attention during August, a sleepy holiday period in much of Europe.

The EU is adamant that it will not renegotiate the agreement struck with May on the terms of Britain’s departure and the framework of future relations. Without it, Britain faces a chaotic Brexit that economists warn would disrupt trade by imposing tariffs and customs checks between Britain and the bloc, send the value of the pound plummeting and plunge the U.K. into recession.

Nonetheless, Johnson is bulldozing his way forward to leave the EU at the end of October, “come what may.”

To accomplish that, he culled many members of May’s Cabinet within hours of taking office, replacing them with a group of loyal Brexit supporters.