[ad_1]
The UK should not accept a deal with the EU at any price, the chancellor said, insisting that the coronavirus pandemic posed a greater threat to the UK economy than Brexit.
Speaking as UK and EU negotiators enter what could be their final week of discussions, Rishi Sunak said he was hopeful a trade and security deal would be struck.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that “better progress” had been made in recent days, but that there were still gaps on important issues such as fishing and competition regulations.
In an echo of Theresa May’s 2018 speech insisting that “no deal is better than a bad deal,” Sunak told the BBC: “I think we are being completely reasonable with our requests and have been consistent and transparent. Throughout this process on what is important to us, “he said.” But we will prosper in any eventuality.
“In the short term specifically, and more immediately, it would be preferable to have a deal because it would make things easier in the short term. I believe that the most important impact on our economy next year will not be because of that, it is because of the coronavirus.
“We should not bet on a deal at any price, that would be the wrong thing to do and I think there are things that are important to us in these negotiations, and we have been totally, as I said, reasonable, consistent and transparent.”
Analysis by the London School of Economics and the UK in a Changing Europe concluded in September that the economic impact of a no-deal Brexit could be two to three times worse than that of the pandemic.
There have been suggestions in recent weeks that Sunak is one of the high-level government figures calling for caution in an impending no-deal scenario.
Tax experts say the best deal the UK can secure would have counted as “one of the toughest Brexits” three to four years ago.
Paul Johnson, director of the respected think tank at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said: “That kind of deal will result, at best, in the economy growing less rapidly than it would have otherwise.
“It is worth saying that, especially in the context of the coronavirus, there is great uncertainty about what the impact will be, and in particular the short-term impact.”
