By Amber Rudd, Work and Pensions Secretary (*) - Brexit is in danger of getting stuck – and that is something that should worry us all. If MPs dig in against the Prime Minister’s deal and then hunker down in their different corners, none with a majority, the country will face serious trouble.
Bank of England governor Mark Carney has warned interest rates could rise in the event of a no-deal Brexit if a cliff-edge withdrawal sends the pound into free fall. Mr. Carney said there are scenarios where policy “might need to be tightened in the event of a no deal, no transition Brexit”, should a plunge in the value of the pound cause inflation to surge and impact UK production.
Brexit deal involving a customs union and a “close” relationship with the single market would win a majority in the Commons and have the backing of business, John McDonnell has said. The shadow chancellor said Labour MPs would vote in favor of a Brexit deal that “protects jobs and the economy” but acknowledged that was “not the way it is at the moment” under Theresa May’s strategy.
Britain rejected point blank the suggestion that a ‘No Deal’ Brexit will help Argentina's claim over the Falkland Islands. The Prime Minister official spokeswoman said there was no doubt Britain’s “relationships” with all of its overseas territories would remain in place after March 2019.
A no-deal Brexit may be the “most likely outcome” of the UK’s negotiations with the EU, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has told MSPs. The First Minister said that while the terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc are 95% agreed, there remains an “impasse” over the issue of the Irish border.
The United Kingdom has done “all it can” unilaterally to cushion the blow of a no-deal Brexit for banks and financial firms, a Bank of England deputy governor has said. Sir Jon Cunliffe seemed to place the ball firmly back in the EU’s court, after suggesting that British authorities had made significant efforts through the likes of banking stress tests and a temporary permissions regime to prepare the financial sector for a cliff-edge exit.
Dominic Raab, the British minister responsible for Brexit has told the EU to “get real” and reach a deal with the UK, and said EU chiefs had disrespected Theresa May with “jibes” at a recent summit. Raab underlined that the UK would leave without a deal rather than be “bullied” into signing a “one-sided” arrangement.
Conservatives cannot afford to look like the party of “no change”, British Chancellor Philip Hammond has warned colleagues. Mr Hammond said the Tories could not “outspend” Jeremy Corbyn's Labour with “short-term gimmicks”. Instead he said they urgently needed to make the case for capitalism and “take our people with us”.
Prime Minister Theresa May appealed directly to fellow European Union leaders on Wednesday to drop “unacceptable” Brexit demands that she said could rip Britain apart, urging the bloc to respond in kind to her “serious and workable” plan.
Mini factory in Oxford will shut down for a month after Brexit at the end of March to minimize disruption in case of a no-deal outcome. Owner BMW said its summer maintenance shutdown had been brought forward to 1 April to reduce any possible short-term parts-supply disruption.