Jeremy Hunt warned against a no-deal Brexit, saying it would be “messy” and something that the EU would “regret for generations”.
Speaking in the Netherlands, the foreign secretary said that a no-deal would represent a “huge geo-strategic mistake”.
“In terms of everything else that happens on the world stage and it would be a mistake that we would regret for generations if we were to have a messy ugly divorce and that’s what we all want to avoid,” he said from The Hague as part of his EU tour.
Hunt’s comments were not taken lightly by Tory Eurosceptics, with Conor Burns, a Tory MP saying: “The thing that we want to avoid for ‘generations to come’ is being locked into a permanent orbit around the EU where we end up with a deal but don’t have a seat around the table.”
“Many of us still believe what we have been defending for the last two years, which is the Prime Minister’s line that no deal is better than a bad deal. It’s nothing to be afraid of.
“They seem to be prepared to sell the reservation in the long-term to avoid disruption in the short term. It’s barmy.”
The Danish finance minister has also warned that a no-deal Brexit for the UK is likely and there is a 50-50 chance of Britain leaving the European Union without an agreement in place.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Kristian Jensen said: “I also believe that 50-50 is a very good assessment because time is running out and we need to move really fast if we’ve got to strike a deal that is positive both for the UK and EU.”
This morning London mayor Sadiq Khan plans to launch a consultation for London businesses to prepare them for Brexit eventualities.
The London mayor will asses the capital’s access to medicines, energy, food and emergency services and whether the city is able to cope with a shortage of food and medicine.
“If the government had taken a different approach to the negotiations this would never have been an option, but we are now left with no choice but to plan for a no-deal scenario,” said Khan.