Contenders to Lead U.K. Clash Over Parliament, Brexit and Trust
Hunt said he would “100% not” suspend Parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit, drawing a dividing line with Johnson.
(Bloomberg) -- Jeremy Hunt said he would "100% not" suspend Parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit, drawing a dividing line with Boris Johnson as the two men entered the last days of campaigning before Tory activists start voting for the U.K.’s next prime minister.
Hunt’s commitment -- a direct challenge to Johnson -- helped win the backing of former Foreign Secretary William Hague, who said his mastery of the machinery of government makes him best placed to deliver on his promises.
“We voted to leave the EU because we wanted to restore parliamentary democracy,” Hunt told Sky News on Monday evening. “You cannot, in that situation, force through a no-deal Brexit by closing down Parliament. The British people would not accept that, including many people who voted for Brexit.”
Johnson, the front-runner in the contest to succeed Theresa May, has said he would keep open the possibility of shutting Parliament if lawmakers try to block the U.K. leaving the bloc without agreement on Oct. 31. A poll of Conservative Party members, who will receive their ballot papers for the election this week, found that 59% want the new prime minister to be ready to leave without a deal if negotiations fail.
‘Sense and Wisdom’
Johnson said the threat of the Brexit Party taking seats from both the Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party in the next election will concentrate the minds of members of Parliament tempted to try to frustrate the split from the EU. The U.K. was originally scheduled to leave the bloc in March and it can’t be delayed again, he said.
“We’ve just got to believe in the common sense and wisdom of our elected representatives to get the thing done,” Johnson said in a conference call with party members. “Politics has changed since March 29, and we all know we’re staring down the barrel of extinction if we don’t do it -- and that applies to both sides of the argument.”
Johnson said the EU’s budget concerns mean his strategy of withholding a 39 billion-pound ($49.3 billion) divorce payment until a new deal is done, alongside “our determination to get out with no deal,” would force the bloc to the table.
‘That Route’
“I don’t think they want us to come out without a deal, they don’t want a disorderly Brexit,” Johnson said. “They have the incentive of the 39 billion pounds, which is a lot, and they’re always thinking about their budget, so they’ll want to make sure they get that money.”
But Hunt contradicted Johnson and said Britain must pay the cash, which covers agreed obligations to the EU budget. “The kind of country we are is a country that pays our bills,” Hunt said. The total amount could be negotiated down, but the U.K. must honor its legal obligations and retain trust with its neighbors, he told Sky News.
“If you’re negotiating a deal, you have to have trust on both sides,” he said. “If you start saying we’re not going to pay you the money that’s legally yours, they just won’t talk to you and that’s why I would not go down that route.”
Hague, who led the Conservative Party between 1997 and 2001, said Hunt is the better placed of the two men to negotiate with the EU and serve as prime minister once Brexit is done.
Chancellor’s Warnings
Successful government can’t be delivered by someone who is “aloof,” but “depends on the 24-hour-a-day grip, focus and drive of the man or woman at the top,” Hague wrote in a column for the Daily Telegraph. “I hope Boris Johnson can deliver that, but I know for sure that Jeremy Hunt can.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond stepped-up his warnings to both candidates not to promise to spend the 26 billion pounds of fiscal headroom he has built up to mitigate the impact of a no-deal divorce.
It will only be available if there is an "orderly transition,” he said, otherwise there will need to be more borrowing, increased taxes or cuts to other departments to pay for their election pledges.
“We have to live within our means, and people have to be honest about the consequences of either spending more money or of cutting taxes,” Hammond told BBC TV. “They need to be very careful about setting out these ambitions and being clear about the consequences of them.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Penny in London at tpenny@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Robert Jameson
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