Tory leadership hopeful Sajid Javid has said he is prepared to take Britain out of the EU without a deal if concessions from Brussels cannot be secured.
The Home Secretary, one of a dozen Conservatives hoping to become the next prime minister, has set out his five-point plan to tackle the inevitable challenges facing Theresa May’s successor.
Top of his list is getting a Brexit deal through Parliament – as he rules out holding a second referendum, an early general election or revoking Article 50.
Writing in the Daily Mail, he says: “The voters have been asked their opinion more than enough times. Never in this country’s history have we asked people to go to the polls a second time without implementing their verdict from the first.
“Another vote before we leave would be disastrous for trust in politics, and cause the kind of chaos that risks handing Jeremy Corbyn and his hard-left supporters the keys to No 10.”
Mr Javid vows to ramp up preparations for a no-deal Brexit – not because it is what he wants, but because “we have to accept the reality of our situation”.
This would include drawing up a “bold” no-deal Budget, and showing the EU that Britain is not afraid of walking away from negotiations.
But Mr Javid says he will still work to secure a deal and promises to focus efforts on working with Ireland to amend the backstop and come up with a “credible solution”.
“I would take every step possible to ensure we leave with a deal by October 31,” he says, but adds that his position is clear: “If we cannot get a deal, we should, with great regret, leave without one, having done everything we can to minimise disruption.”
Mr Javid is among a crowded field in the race to replace Mrs May, with other contenders including fellow Cabinet ministers Jeremy Hunt, Rory Stewart and Michael Gove.
The 49-year-old has also pledged to oversee 20,000 extra police officers “pounding the pavements” if elected prime minister, telling The Sun he would spend £1 billion over three years to put “police on the beat” and end a “culture of impunity” among criminals.
On Friday, former chief whip Mark Harper became the latest to announce his intention to stand for the top job after Mrs May resigns as Tory leader on June 7.
All the candidates have been warned of the dangers of a no-deal Brexit by the Confederation of British Industry.
The organisation’s director-general Carolyn Fairbairn used an open letter to say the next prime minister must seek an agreement with Brussels as the “vast majority of firms can never be prepared for no-deal”.
She said: “The next prime minister can only claim the Conservatives are the party of business if they secure a Brexit deal that protects the economy, jobs and living standards.
“Firms large and small are clear that leaving the EU with a deal is the best way forward.
“Short-term disruption and long-term damage to British competitiveness will be severe if we leave without one.
“The vast majority of firms can never be prepared for no-deal, particularly our SME (small and medium enterprise) members who cannot afford complex and costly contingency plans.
“We need compromise, consensus and honesty to resolve the Brexit impasse, quickly.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel