Jeremy Hunt would tell small businesses no-deal Brexit was worth it

Tory leadership hopeful says he would look
owners of businesses that went bust in the eye

Advertisement Feature

Marr asked the Foreign Secretary whether he would be willing to
look the owners of family businesses in the eye and say they should
be prepared to see their companies go bust to ensure a no-deal
Brexit. Hunt replied: “I would do so but I’d do it with a heavy
heart precisely because of the risks.”

Asked how he would justify this position to such small business
owners, Hunt said he would tell them that a no-deal Brexit was
necessary to maintain the UK’s image abroad as “a country where
politicians do what the people tell them to do”.

He added: “So if, in order to do what the people tell us to do,
we have to leave without a deal, I would do that. But I would find
support for those companies to help them weather the storms.”

The Guardian says Hunt has “faced criticism
from Boris Johnson” over his position that if a deal was very close
by 31 October he might briefly extend the deadline to see it
through.

It was perhaps with an eye on this very criticism that Hunt
tried to position himself as the fastest route to Brexit yesterday.
He told Marr: “I believe we will leave sooner with me than with
Boris or anyone else because I am the person most likely to
negotiate a deal. And that is the quickest way to leave.”

The 160,000 Conservative Party members will begin voting next
week and Theresa May’s successor is expected to be revealed on 23
July.