Former TV presenter Esther McVey, who is in the running to replace May as the new Prime Minister, has said she will prepare for a No Deal Brexit if she is elected...
'Best thing for Britain is to prepare for a No Deal': Esther McVey says there will be 'no more Brexit extensions' but 'door is still open' for EU to negotiate as she sets out stall to be next PM
Ether McVey said the country must prepare to leave with No Deal in October
The former Work and Pensions Secretary is standing for the Tory leadership
She claimed an 'invisible border' in Ireland would be possible by October
By
Joel Adams For Mailonline
26 May 2019
Esther McVey has said the UK must prepare to leave the
European Union with no deal.
The former Work and Pensions Secretary is standing for the
Tory leadership on a 'blue collar Conservative' platform.
Ms McVey said this morning: 'The EU doesn't want to move, the UK therefore has to be prepared to leave.
'And as we know, with No Deal there is no backstop, so the best thing we can do is prepare to leave with No Deal.'
Former Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey, who is standing for the Tory leadership, said the country should be ready to leave the EU with no deal
The 'proud northerner' told Sky she said she is standing for 'regular people who pay into the system, work hard, but want to know they get something back.'
She said the Brexit date of October 31 was 'now fixed' adding: 'We won't be asking for any more extensions. That's one of the uncertainties that individuals, businesses and the country don't want.'
But, she added, the 'door is open' if the EU wishes to come back to offer a renegotiation.
On the tortured issue of the Irish backstop, which sank three attempts by Mrs May to pass her Withdrawal Agreement, Ms McVey said an 'invisible border' would be possible to put in place even before October.
An invisible border refers to plans to use number plate cameras and online pre-submission of customs forms to prevent customs checks at the one land border between the UK and the EU, in Northern Ireland.
She told Sophie Ridge: 'We know the EU ain't going to put up a border, we know Ireland won't be putting up a border and we won't putting up a border.'
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph today Ms McVey said: 'It is clear to see the public’s view has hardened and it’s time to actively embrace leaving without a Withdrawal Agreement.'
Ms McVey, who resigned from Theresa May's cabinet over the Withdrawal Agreement, said: 'It was always a poor deal and I preferred leaving without a deal. I therefore voted against it twice.'
She said the Withdrawal Agreement 'ship has now sailed' and should be 'put out of its misery', and that paying £39bn for a lengthy implementation period will not 'cut the mustard' with 'an increasingly impatient public.'
She argued: 'This country needs a genuinely bold, new approach. So we must now leave the EU on October 31 with a clean break.'
Meanwhile her former Cabinet colleague Damian Green, a close ally of Mrs May's and her former Deputy PM, said he would be supporting Matt Hancock in the forthcoming leadership contest and warned against a 'divisive' figure taking the helm.
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