THE social consequences of Britain not leaving the European Union on March 29 would be “devastating,” Jeremy Hunt has warned.
Speaking during a trip to Singapore, the Foreign Secretary said the island city state "exemplified the dynamism and vitality of Asia" and that Britain could learn from its "strategic approach" to maintaining a competitive economic advantage.
But he made clear the UK would not emulate its low tax and low regulation climate as some Brexiteers hope for, stressing: "We do not want and do not seek to emulate the social or political model of Singapore."
As Westminster prepares itself for an intense two-week period when MPs are due to debate and vote on Theresa May’s Brexit Plan, Mr Hunt warned colleagues about what might happen if they rejected it.
“The social consequences in one of the oldest democracies in the world of not going ahead and leaving the EU on March 29 as we’ve been instructed to do would be devastating.” He did not elaborate.
Today, his Cabinet colleague Michael Gove, speaking at a farmers’ conference in Oxford, will also pledge his support to the agreed UK-EU deal.
The Environment Secretary will say: “It isn’t perfect but let’s not make the perfect the enemy of the good.
“It not only gives us a 21-month transition period in which current access is completely unaffected, it also allows us to maintain continuous tariff-free and quota-free access to EU markets for our exporters after that. It allows us largely to diverge from EU regulation after the transition, to leave the Common Agricultural Policy and end all mandatory payments to the EU.”
Earlier, Mr Hunt stressed how MPS could get "absolutely everything” they wanted from Mrs May's Brexit Plan with talks with Brussels continuing to focus on getting changes to the backstop within the Withdrawal Agreement.
Explaining how the UK wanted changes to the text that had “legal force” to ensure the backstop was temporary - a concept Brussels has agreed to – Mr Hunt added: "So what we're saying, very simply, is we're not asking for anything new but we are asking you to define what temporary means so we can have confidence we're not going to be trapped in the customs union for ever against the wishes of the British people."
Nigel Dodds, the deputy leader of the Democratic Unionists, was in Downing Street yesterday for a Brexit-focused meeting in the office of Julian Smith, the Chief Whip.
A party spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has committed to secure changes. We will be holding her to her word. We want to work with the Government in the coming days to ensure the United Kingdom leaves the EU with a good deal."
Earlier, Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, came under fire after defending the awarding of a contract for ferry services in the event of a no-deal Brexit to a company that has never run a Channel service.
"It's a new start-up business, Government is supporting new business and there is nothing wrong with that,” he declared.
But Stephen Gethins for the SNP branded the Government decision a "farce," saying: "This waste of time and money would be avoidable if the UK Government did the sensible thing and took a no-deal Brexit off the table."
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