Cabinet minister Matt Hancock says no-deal Brexit will not happen
3 min read
A no-deal Brexit will not happen “whether people want it or not,” a Cabinet minister declared today.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock risked angering pro-Brexit Tory MPs when he categorically ruled out the UK quitting the EU without a withdrawal agreement in place.
His comments echoed those of Theresa May when she told the Commons yesterday that a no-deal Brexit would not happen “unless this House agrees to it”.
However she maintained that leaving the bloc empty-handed was still a possibility, arguing that the only way to truly rule it out was by backing the deal she agreed with Brussels.
The Commons has previously passed a symbolic motion calling on the Government to take a no-deal Brexit off the table.
The House is set to vote tomorrow on a series of other Brexit proposals, after MPs seized control of parliamentary business last night in a major blow for Mrs May.
But Mr Hancock said the alternatives to the Brexit deal she clinched with Brussels were “narrowing” as he called on colleagues to back the agreement and ditch their preferred options.
“For instance, it’s now clear that no-deal will not happen whether people want it or not,” he told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.
“Parliament has been extremely clear now that it will not allow no-deal to happen and it will seize control of the order paper and the agenda in order to take it off the table.”
He said those who want to quit the EU and had previously been hoping for a no-deal departure were better off voting for the government plan.
But former Brexit minister Suella Braverman told PoliticsHome: "The EU is clearly prepared for a no deal on 12th April and the PM herself made this clear in her statement.
"The announcement from the Irish [that there will be no hard border with Northern Ireland in the event of a no-deal] is also a very clear signal that no deal is very definitely an option, ultimately."
Elsewhere, Mr Hancock reiterated that the Government might have to ignore the will of the House if it votes for an impossible or contradictory form of Brexit.
In the Commons yesterday, Mrs May said: “I hope we can all agree that we are now at the moment of decision, and in doing so we must confront the reality of the hard choices before us: unless this House agrees to it, no deal will not happen.”
But she added that a no-deal departure remained the default legal option on 12 April and noted that voting for her Brexit deal would mean “no further extensions, no threat to Brexit and no risk of a no deal”.
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