Chancellor says hopes of better deal are ‘a delusion’

Philip Hammond has told MPs it is “simply a delusion” to think a better Brexit deal can be renegotiated at the 11th hour after warning a no-deal is “too awful to contemplate”.

The chancellor faced dissent from Tory backbenchers as he warned a no-deal would see the end of frictionless trade, restrictions on EU travelling rights and large tariffs for UK exporters.

Brexiteer Nadine Dorries said the warnings were an extension of “project fear” but Mr Hammond received backing for his view from the shadow chancellor John McDonnell who said Labour “would not countenance” a no-deal scenario and pledged the party would “work assiduously to avoid it”.

Opening the third day of debate on the deal, Mr Hammond said: “I have observed this process at close quarters for two-and-a-half years and I’m absolutely clear about one thing, this deal is the best deal to exit the EU that is available or that is going to be available. The idea that there’s an option of renegotiating at the 11th hour is simply a delusion. We need to be honest with ourselves, the alternatives to this deal are no deal or no Brexit. Either will leave us a fractured society and a divided nation.

“Only that compromise can bring us back together after Brexit is delivered, and we should remember the lesson of history, that divided nations are not successful nations,” he added.