Brexit ‘may not even happen’
Leave donors’ despair as Hunt fears ‘paralysis’ if deal is rejected
TWO of the biggest donors to the Leave campaign say they have given up on Brexit ever happening.
Billionaire Peter Hargreaves and veteran hedge fund manager Crispin Odey do not believe Britain will end up leaving the European Union amid the deadlock in Parliament.
It came as Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned yesterday that it is more likely than ever that MPs will work to block the UK leaving without a deal.
Mr Hargreaves, who gave £3.2million to the Leave campaign, said: ‘I have totally given up. I am totally in despair, I don’t think Brexit will happen at all.’
The co-founder of investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown added: ‘They [pro-Europeans] are banking on the fact that people are so fed up with it that they will just say, “Sod it, we will stay”.
‘I do see that attitude. The problem is when something doesn’t happen for so long you feel less angry about it.’
Mr Odey, who donated more than £870,000 to pro-Leave groups, said that while he does not believe there will be a second referendum, he does not think Brexit will take place either.
‘My view is that it ain’t going to happen,’ he said. ‘I just can’t see how it happens with that configuration of Parliament.’
Mr Hunt yesterday warned of ‘Brexit paralysis’ if MPs vote down Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement on Tuesday, potentially meaning the UK does not leave at all.
In an appeal for Tory MPs to get behind the deal, the Foreign Secretary said the past week has shown they cannot rely on no-deal being the default outcome if the agreement fails to pass.
He said Commons Speaker John Bercow has shown that he is ‘willing to frustrate the Government at every opportunity’, and it was not possible for the minority Tory administration to control what happened in Parliament.
Mr Hunt told Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I think Parliament is very committed to try to stop nodeal, but I think we have to recognise that there is a deal on the table, it does broadly deliver the Brexit people voted for, and if we don’t find a way to get this through, we are taking some very big risks. Brexit paralysis potentially leading to no Brexit is something I think would be incredibly damaging for the long-term future of this country.’
Mrs May is expected to spend the weekend in talks with Brussels over last-minute concessions ahead of the Commons vote.
She is also set to speak to more trade union and business leaders in a desperate bid to rally support.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker yesterday said that ‘every effort’ must be made ahead of Tuesday’s vote to avoid no-deal, which he said would be a ‘catastrophe’ for both sides.
But he said the EU was only willing to offer ‘clarifications’ on the agreement and this should ‘not be confused with a renegotiation’.
It is expected there could be an exchange of letters between the EU and UK on Monday with reassurances about how the backstop to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland could only be a temporary arrangement. Downing Street last night dismissed claims that Brexit could be delayed until after March 29 as there is not enough time to pass the necessary legislation.
Former attorney general Dominic Grieve yesterday said that if MPs reject Mrs May’s deal, the Government should immediately strike the date from legislation before asking the EU for an extension of the two-year Article 50 process.
Meanwhile, in a rare boost for Mrs May, former Labour minister Jim Fitzpatrick said he was close to supporting her deal.
The Poplar and Limehouse MP told the Commons: ‘At some point we need to recognise the danger of no-deal is still there and the only real alternative on the table is the Prime Minister’s deal.’
Conservative MP George Freeman, who announced on Thursday ‘with a heavy heart’ that he would back the agreement, yesterday said he expected as many as 40 other critics to do the same.