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Speaker Rejects MPs' Attempt to Prevent No-Deal: Brexit Update

Hunt Unveils No-Deal Plan to Win Over Tories: Brexit Update

(Bloomberg) -- Jeremy Hunt laid out his plan for a no-deal Brexit that includes lower corporation taxes and support for British farmers, and said he’d decide on Sept. 30 if there was a “realistic” chance of getting a deal through Parliament. In the House of Commons, Speaker John Bercow rejected two amendments aimed at trying to block the next prime minister from taking the U.K. out of the European Union without an agreement.

Key Developments:

  • Hunt said he would engage with European leaders in July, August
  • Chancellor Philip Hammond says “fiscal firepower” the government has built up will be needed to “plug the hole” a no-deal Brexit would make in public finances
  • Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who backs Johnson, told BBC Radio he doesn’t expect a situation where Parliament is suspended to get Brexit done -- despite the Tory front-runner not ruling it out

Bercow Rejects Amendments to Block No-Deal (4.45 p.m.)

House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has blocked an attempt to stop a no-deal Brexit by cutting off money from the government. He told Parliament he hadn’t selected any amendments to what are known as “estimates” votes -- legislation which approves funding to government departments.

Last week, Labour’s Margaret Beckett and Conservative Dominic Grieve proposed a series of amendments that would have prevented departments from getting money if the U.K. leaves the European Union without a divorce deal. Two amendments were on the order paper for Monday, and both have been rejected by Bercow. Another two on Tuesday’s order paper may now also be rejected.

Hammond’s Dig at Rivals’ Spending Plans (12:15 p.m.)

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond criticized both Tory leadership candidates over their plans to take advantage of the 26 billion pounds of fiscal headroom he built up to mitigate the impact of a no-deal Brexit. Both candidates have said that scenario must be kept on the table to strengthen the U.K.’s hands in talks with the EU.

“The ‘fiscal firepower’ we have built up in case of a No-Deal Brexit will only be available for extra spending if we leave with an orderly transition,” Hammond said on Twitter.

The headroom will fall to 15 billion pounds once the reclassification of student loans takes effect later this year. According to Bloomberg Economics, a no-deal Brexit would more than wipe out that margin.

Speaker Rejects MPs' Attempt to Prevent No-Deal: Brexit Update

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank, also criticized the two leadership candidates’ plans, saying their claims of spending the available headroom would actually mean more borrowing.

Hunt Says Voters Not Looking for ‘Showman’ (12 p.m.)

Following his speech in central London, Jeremy Hunt offered some conciliatory words on his rival Boris Johnson, saying there was not much separating them on their attitudes toward a no-deal Brexit and calling him “a great guy and immensely talented.”

But Hunt also made some not-so-subtle digs, calling on Johnson to lay out his Brexit plans in detail and to agree to a televised debate this week -- before ballot papers are sent to Conservative Party members who will decide the country’s next prime minister.

Voters “don’t want a showman, they don’t want to be entertained,” Hunt said. They want the person who can “get us out of the European Union the most smoothly.”

Hunt: Sept. 30 Deadline to Decide on Deal (11:40 a.m.)

Conservative leadership contender Jeremy Hunt said that if he became prime minister, he would seek talks with EU leaders in July and August to try to avoid what he called a “take it or leave it approach.”

Hunt would then put his Brexit proposal to a vote in the House of Commons in the first weeks of September, when Parliament returns from its summer vacation. He will also publish a budget for no-deal Brexit around the same time.

Following three weeks of further “formal’’ negotiations with the EU, Hunt said he would set a deadline of Sept. 30 to decide if his deal can realistically pass Parliament. If he judges it can be passed, it will be brought to a vote before the end of October, when the U.K. is due to leave the EU.

If Parliament cannot agree a deal, Hunt said he would focus attention on preparing for leaving the bloc with no deal.

Lib Dem Rivals Expect General Election in Months (10:30 a.m.)

The two candidates to be leader of the Liberal Democrats, Jo Swinson and Ed Davey, told Sky News the party is preparing for a general election they expect within months. Both ruled out joining a coalition with a Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour Party, with Swinson calling him a “Brexiteer.”

“We want to be the largest party,” Swinson said. “We’re in unusual times in politics” due to Brexit, she said, arguing that the Liberal Democrats could lead a minority government committed to a second referendum on leaving the EU. “There may be a majority of MPs who support a People’s Vote and are willing to work across party lines to achieve it,” she said.

Both candidates also ruled out working with the Conservative Party, which “is increasingly going to some hard-right positions, on immigration, on tax cuts,” Davey said. “There is no way the Liberal Democrats should ever work with a Brexit government.”

Earlier:

To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net;Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net;Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Emma Ross-Thomas at erossthomas@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Thomas Penny

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