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7 Mar, 2019 10:30

UK ‘will have to delay’ Brexit if MPs reject May’s deal, Hammond says

Britain will probably have to delay its departure from the EU if lawmakers reject the government’s proposed divorce deal in a vote next week, the finance minister, Philip Hammond, said on Thursday. Unless PM Theresa May can get her divorce treaty approved by the British Parliament, then lawmakers will have to decide whether to delay Brexit or thrust the world’s fifth largest economy into chaos by leaving without a deal, Reuters said. “The government is very clear where the will of Parliament is on this. Parliament will vote not to leave the EU without a deal,” Hammond told BBC radio. “I have a high degree of confidence about that.” Hammond warned Eurosceptic colleagues if they fail to back the government’s deal they face the risk of a closer economic relationship with the EU.