LONDON: Boris Johnson is unwise to box himself “into a corner” over his “impossible” commitment that the UK will leave the EU on October 31, Conservative colleague Philip Hammond has warned.The Chancellor said he did not think Johnson would be able to succeed on his pledge — made during his televised appeal to succeed Theresa May as Tory Party leader on Wednesday — that “after three years and two missed deadlines we must leave the EU on October 31”.Speaking at Bloomberg’s Sooner Than You Think Summit in London, moments after the party leadership frontrunner addressed supporters nearby, Hammond compared committing to the October deadline with driving “towards this cliff-edge at speed”.He also predicted the EU would not reopen the Withdrawal Agreement, which sets out the terms of the UK’s departure from the bloc and includes the controversial Northern Ireland backstop as well as Britain’s £39 billion “divorce” settlement.European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has also told Tory leadership hopeful they will not be able to renegotiate Mrs May’s Brexit deal.Hammond told delegates: “I don’t think it’s sensible for candidates to box themselves into a corner on this. Parliament will not allow a no-deal exit from the EU and our experience to date has suggested that it might not be that easy to agree a deal in Parliament.“Boris and any other candidate is perfectly entitled to say that they need to go and test this for themselves. But I can advise them that the EU is not likely to be prepared to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement we have already opened with them.”Hammond added: “I think it will be very difficult — in fact I think it will be impossible — to do this by October 31 and I don’t think it will be in our national interest that we drive towards this cliff-edge at speed.“The fact we are changing the leader of the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister doesn’t change the basic dynamics of this problem - the parliamentary arithmetic remains exactly the same, the European Union’s position remains exactly the same.They will be very happy to talk to the new PM but they are not going to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement.”Asked how he would solve the impasse, the Chancellor — dubbed Spreadsheet Phil due to his dry image — joked: “If I knew the answer to that we probably wouldn’t be in the last five weeks of our government.”In a further quip, he said he spends “about half” of his waking day “talking about Brexit - that’s on a good day”.
06-13-2019, 11:15 AM
Boris wrong to promise impossible over Brexit: Hammond
العرض العادي
