Cape Argus

Britain warns EU of ‘Brexit no-deal by accident’ unless it changes

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LONDON: Britain called on European Union negotiator­s yesterday to urgently change their approach to Brexit or face the turmoil of a “no-deal by accident”.

With just over eight months left until Britain is due to leave the EU, there is little clarity about how trade will flow as Prime Minister Theresa May, who is grappling with a rebellion in her party, is still trying to strike a deal with the bloc.

May has stepped up planning for a socalled “no-deal” Brexit that would see the world’s fifth largest economy crash out of the EU on March 29, 2019, a step that could spook financial markets and dislocate trade flows across Europe and beyond.

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said last week that May’s new Brexit proposals contained constructi­ve elements, but added that many questions remained.

In Berlin on his first overseas trip as British foreign minister since replacing Boris Johnson, who resigned over May’s new proposals, Jeremy Hunt delivered a caution to the most powerful EU power.

“When it comes to Brexit there is now a very real risk of a Brexit no-deal by accident,” he told a news conference alongside his German counterpar­t, Heiko Maas.

“I think that many people in the EU are thinking that they just have to wait long enough and Britain will blink. And that’s not going to happen,” Hunt said.

Under the current timetable, both London and Brussels hope to get a final Brexit deal in October to give enough time to ratify it by Brexit day next March, though few diplomats expect the deal to be struck until months later.

About 52% of Britain’s total $1.1 trillion (R14.8 trillion) trade in goods last year was with the EU and some investors have said such a chaotic scenario would seriously damage the economies of both Britain and the EU over the short term.

Supporters of Brexit admit there may be some short-term pain for Britain’s $2.9 trillion economy, but that long-term it will prosper when cut free from the EU, which they cast as a failing German-dominated experiment in European integratio­n.

Hunt, who campaigned ahead of the 2016 referendum to remain in the EU, said Britain and Germany shared a commitment to a rules-based internatio­nal order.

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