Rudd says May’s Brexit deal is best and only option

>> LONDON: Britain’s work and pensions minister Amber Rudd said Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal was the best option and the only plan available for leaving the European Union, although she admitted a plan B might be needed.

Members of parliament look set to vote down Ms May’s deal on Tuesday, a move which risks hurtling the world’s fifth-largest economy into even deeper uncertainty and leaving open a number of possible outcomes including a disorderly Brexit.

“The best deal we have is the one the Prime Minister’s put forward,” Ms Rudd told BBC radio yesterday.

Ms May has said lawmakers must back her withdrawal deal or face either a painful ‘no-deal’ exit from the EU or possibly no Brexit at all, but Ms Rudd said a ‘Plan B’ might be required.

“If it [May’s plan] doesn’t get through anything could happen: people’s vote, Norway plus, any of these options could come forward,” she said.

Ms Rudd said that even if Ms May loses Tuesday’s vote she should stay on as prime minister.

“There is no question of her going,” she said.