Hammond: No EU deal would be bad for UK
THERESA May’s Brexit plans were branded a “mess” as the negotiations were due to start.
And Philip Hammond blasted the Prime Minister’s idea we could quit the EU without an agreement.
The Tory Chancellor said: “No deal would be a very, very bad outcome for Britain.
“But there is a possible worse outcome and that is a deal deliberately structured to suck the lifeblood out of our economy over time.”
Mr Hammond added: “What we put in place may not be a single arrangement that endures for ever, it may be an arrangement which lasts for a couple of years before we get to the long-term agreed status quo.
“It’s a statement of common sense that if we are going to radically change the way we work together, we need to get there via a slope, not a cliff-edge.”
Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer said: “The PM has got us into a complete mess.
“She has got no mandate here and she has no authority abroad. Things have to change. Her approach has alienated our allies in Europe.” But Brexit Secretary David Davis, who holds opening talks with EU negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels today, said he can deliver a deal “like no other in history”. He said: “We want both sides to emerge strong and prosperous, capable of projecting our shared European values and demonstrating our resolve to protect our citizens.”
THE Tories’ Brexit negotiating team is a coalition of chaos before talks start today as powerless Theresa May’s Cabinet Ministers fight like ferrets in a sack.
Philip Hammond setting out his own goals for Brexit underlines the PM’s vanishing authority. She’s too feeble to sack a Chancellor of the Exchequer who would have been ditched had May secured her landslide.
As the Tory ship heads for the rocks, it is every Conservative m inister for themselves, with Britain left to sink and Europe’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, looking on smiling.
Working people didn’t vote for a Brexit that would cost them their jobs and reduce living standards. Yet they are feeling the pinch of a plummeting pound and higher inflation, so Hammond is right to champion the economy.
Brexit Secretary David Davis must abandon his destructive ideological straitjacket and recognise the solutions sold to win the referendum were dishonest.
We want the best Brexit deal for Britain and that means a deal to save jobs and wages. Anything else would betray Britain’s workers.