Philip Hammond has said that whilst all possible Brexit scenarios will leave the UK worse off economically, the prime minister’s deal is the best option.
The Chancellor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday that after analysing the effects of the proposed Brexit deal, the UK economy will be “slightly smaller”.
“If you look at this purely from an economic point of view, yes there will be a cost to leaving the European Union because there will be impediments to our trade,” he said.
The deal that will be put to the vote in December will “absolutely minimise those costs.”
“The economy will be slightly smaller in the prime minister’s preferred version,” he added.
The vote will take place in Parliament on 11 December, where many MPs have said they plan on rejecting the deal. Hammond said that if Theresa May’s deal is voted down, the UK will be in “uncharted political territory”.
“We will then have to sit down as a cabinet and a government and decide where to go on the basis of the vote, what we’ve seen in the vote and who has voted in which way because clearly we live in a democracy, parliament is sovereign,” he said.
“If parliament makes a decision to reject the prime minister’s proposal, we will have to consider very carefully how to proceed.”
“All of the other options have disadvantages and we have to look not only at the economy but also the need to heal a fractured nation. We will not be successful if we remain fundamentally divided and fractured on this issue.”
Until the vote, the prime minister will travel to different areas within the UK to persuade MPs and the general public to vote for the deal.
She will say during her visit to Glasgow: “We will be free to strike our own trade deals around the world, providing even greater opportunity to Scottish exporters.”
