Business groups have expressed anger after Jeremy Hunt said he would willingly tell people whose companies went bust after a no-deal Brexit that their sacrifice had been necessary.
In a notable escalation of his rhetoric on Brexit, the foreign secretary, who is trailing Boris Johnson in the Conservative leadership election, also said he would actively pursue no deal if a new departure plan looked impossible by the start of October – less than 10 weeks after the new prime minister takes office.
Hunt’s shift towards the harder language associated with Johnson, who has promised to deliver Brexit by 31 October “do or die”, has alarmed some fellow Conservatives. A senior party source said it was “shocking to hear an allegedly sensible politician talk so frivolously about the livelihoods of millions of people”.
Throughout the leadership campaign Hunt has stressed the potential damage from a no-deal departure, saying he would only pursue it if there was no other way to deliver Brexit.
But interviewed on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, Hunt said it could become a policy goal if his plan to renegotiate a departure deal with the EU – dismissed by Brussels as unrealistic – proved impossible.
“At the beginning of October, if there is no prospect of a deal that can get through parliament, then I will leave at the end of October because that is our democratic promise to the British people,” Hunt said.
Asked whether, under such a policy, he would be willing to look the owners of family businesses in the eye and say they should be prepared to see their companies go bust to ensure a no-deal Brexit, Hunt said: “I would do so but I’d do it with a heavy heart precisely because of the risks.”
Hunt said he would tell business owners that a no-deal Brexit was necessary to maintain the UK’s image abroad as “a country where politicians do what the people tell them to do”.
He added: “So if, in order to do what the people tell us to do, we have to leave without a deal, I would do that. But I would find support for those companies to help them weather the storms.”
Personal style
His style is notably technocratic, with few rhetorical flourishes and an emphasis on his consensual approach and long record as a minister, notably during more than five years as health secretary, a traditional graveyard of ministerial careers. Hunt’s attempts to talk up a backstory as an ‘underestimated’ entrepreneur can fall flat given he is also the son of an admiral and was head boy at Charterhouse. Overall, Hunt’s approach can seem uninspiring and hard to pin down in terms of core beliefs, hence the ‘Theresa in trousers’ nickname among some Tory MPs.
His campaign team have decided to take the fight directly to rival Boris Johnson though, with Hunt taking part in a Twitter Q&A session as a direct response to Johnson’s refusal to appear on a Sky TV head-to-head debate. The hashtag: #BoJoNoShow.
Brexit
He says a new deal with the EU is possible by 31 October and he would send a cross-party negotiating team to Brussels, including members of the DUP. He would countenance leaving the EU without a deal but is notably more wary than rival Boris Johnson.
Taxation
Has been fairly silent on this, beyond a proposal to cut corporation tax from 19% to 12.5%, which according to the IFS would cost an estimated £13bn a year. Even at 19%, the UK rate is well below European and global averages.
Public spending
Before the campaign began he called for a doubling of defence spending, but he has since pulled back slightly, saying only that it should increase. He has argued that cuts to social care budgets had gone too far.
Climate and environment
Hunt backs the 2050 target for zero net carbon emissions and has called for ‘sensible tax incentives’ to encourage green initiatives, but very little beyond this.
Foreign policy
A likely strength for him, as he has been seen as a solid foreign secretary, an impression burnished by taking over from the chaotic Johnson. This has been a key part of his pitch.
Peter Walker Political correspondent
Leading business groups have been careful to not criticise either Hunt or Johnson directly during the leadership campaign, but the comments prompted strong warnings against such policies.
Make UK, which represents manufacturing and engineering firms, said these companies were “the backbone of British industry, and the suggestion that losing them is a price worth paying leaves many speechless”.
Leaving without a deal would be “an act of economic vandalism”, a spokesman said. “We call on any and every politician advocating no deal to think carefully about the enormous harm it would do to businesses and the millions of families who rely on them.”
Claire Walker, the co-executive director of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “Politicians must remember that it is businesses that create jobs and opportunities across our communities, and it is the role of government to create the conditions necessary for these firms to survive and grow, now and in the future. A focus on ideology rather than practicalities does not serve the interests of the UK, or its people, well.”
A CBI spokesman said: “The case for any new prime minister to secure a good deal with the EU is clearcut. Jobs and livelihoods will depend on it.”
The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said the comments showed that to win votes from Tory members Hunt was “willing to sacrifice the jobs and living standards of millions”, calling this “the height of irresponsibility”.
The senior Conservative source said there was intense worry within the party that Hunt’s comments showed both candidates were trying to “pander to the hardcore right of the party”.
They said: “It’ll be the poorest who will be hit the hardest by no deal. People who use a wage to keep a roof over their heads and food in their stomach – not Jeremy or Boris or any other taxpayer-subsidised MP.
“Those in ivory towers need to realise that this is real people’s lives we’re dealing with, not just party politics. The leadership candidates need to get over themselves and do what’s best for the country and deliver a deal.”
One leading centrist Tory MP said should be appealing to “the mainstream moderate business wing of Conservatism”.
They said: “He will never win by aping Boris as the toughest Brexiter. Theresa May tried that and ended up tying herself in knots.”
Hunt has faced criticism from Johnson over his insistence that if a deal was very close by 31 October he might briefly extend the deadline to finalise it. He told Marr that this was actually more likely to make Brexit happen.
“If we got to the end of October and we’ve got a deal and we’re trying to get it through parliament but we need a few more parliamentary days, I’m not going to rip up that deal. Boris is,” he said.
In his own TV interview, Johnson insisted he was happy to take responsibility for the consequences of Brexit.
In sometimes tricky exchanges on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, during which he appeared to not know the current hourly rate for the national living wage, Johnson denied that he tried to avoid accountability for his words and actions, saying he accepted liability for Brexit.
“I played a part in that campaign and I’m very proud of what we did but I take personal responsibility now for what is happening to our country, for the drift and the dither, and the indecision, and the failure to be sufficiently robust in the negotiations which we’ve seen so far,” he said.
