The latest headlines in your inbox
The latest headlines in your inbox
Rebel Tory MPs will not be able to stop the Government crashing Britain out of the EU with no deal, a Cabinet minister said today.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock also did not rule out a no-deal exit at the end of October during a general election campaign.
Sterling fell this morning amid growing no-deal fears, further increasing the cost of foreign summer holidays for British families.
In other key developments today:
-
A poll showed Scots now want to break away from the rest of the UK, by 52 to 48 per cent.
-
Figures for Britain’s giant services sector were slightly better than City expectations but showed the UK was “only just managing to skirt recession”.
-
Car sales fell again last month amid Brexit uncertainty.
Boris Johnson today visited a hospital in Lincolnshire as the Government announced £1.8 billion of NHS spending, including £850 million for 20 hospital upgrades including two in London.
Mr Hancock denied the increased spending was aimed at wooing voters ahead of an autumn general election. Talk at Westminster suggested it was a possibility that could be sparked by a clash between the Government and Parliament over a no-deal.
Pressed on whether he believed the Commons could still stop a no-deal, Mr Hancock told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I now don’t think it can.”
He also stopped short of ruling out Britain leaving the EU with no agreement in the middle of a general election campaign, saying: “I don’t want to see that … I want to get on running the NHS.” On the prospect of an election, he added: “I don’t want one, I don’t think we need one.”
Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson’s senior No10 adviser, is understood to be telling ministers and aides that rebel Conservative MPs have missed their opportunity to stop a no-deal.
He is said to have given special advisers their “marching orders” at a meeting this morning, to drill in to them how they should ensure their departments are ready for Brexit and the possibility of a no-deal.
Senior Tory MPs believe they can find a mechanism for a Commons vote to pass legislation which would thwart attempts to crash Britain out of the EU. Former chancellor Philip Hammond, former justice secretary David Gauke and other senior Conservatives have made clear their determination to stop such a departure, which they believe would severely damage the economy.
Senior Labour MP Jack Dromey said there was now a “high degree of dialogue” taking place cross-party on averting a crash-out. “There is an utter determination that we will stop a no-deal,” he told the Westminster Hour on Radio 4. He added that the talks involved what he called “forces of light” Tories, Liberal Democrats and other MPs who all agreed that a no-deal Brexit would be “catastrophic”.
Mr Hancock said he now believed MPs could not stop a no-deal, citing rebels failing in the Commons to restrict that outcome during the Tory leadership campaign.
Some Tory MPs, though, who strongly oppose no-deal did not rebel earlier as they did not want to tie the hands of a future prime minister before he had taken office.
Hardline Eurosceptic MP Iain Duncan Smith said opponents of a no-deal could unite to form a temporary government if there is a no confidence vote in Mr Johnson, but some rebels are sceptical that a “unity government” could work.
The Government is seeking to make clear to Brussels that it is prepared to leave with no deal.
The pound was down more than half a cent against the dollar in early trading before recovering slightly to stand at $1.2133, down 0.3 of a cent by mid-morning. The currency also shed more than half a cent against the euro to just under €1.09.
