UK International Trade Minister Liam Fox emphasis today that ‘the government will want to leave with a deal but the government will want to prepare for no deal if it’s impossible to get any agreement through the House of Commons. That would be the default policy.” He added that “I don’t regard no deal as national suicide. I think that no deal would damage our economy but I think it’s survivable. I think no Brexit, politically, is a disaster from which we might not recover.”
Separately, RTE News reported the EU is going to issue a letter to the UK today, with a series of reassurances on the Irish backstop. EU might reiterate that the backstop itself is not the preferred solution. But it does help avoiding a hard border. Also, EU will emphasize there is no attempt to “annex” Northern Ireland. But EU will also insist that there will be no renegotiation of the Brexit deal, including the Irish backstop. It’s over all, hardly anything new. UK Prime Minister Theresa May is set to make a statement at 1530GMT regarding the so called new assurances from the EU.
