Business Secretary Greg Clark has warned a no deal Brexit would be a “disaster”.
Prime Minister Theresa May is widely expected to lose the vote on her Brexit deal with it is put to the Commons on Tuesday. Speaking to BBC Radio 4′s Today programme, Clark said there was no majority in parliament for Britain leaving the EU without a deal.
“It is my strong view that we need to come together. We need to act to avoid a no deal because I don’t think there is anything remotely like a majority in Parliament that will tolerate this,” he said.
“I would always work and fight to make sure that the policy of the government is to have a good deal and to avoid what I think would be a disaster which would be no deal.”
It comes as car giant Jaguar Land Rover prepares to announce up to 5,000 job cuts in the UK.
Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe is also expected to urge May to avoid no deal in talks at Downing Street on Thursday.
Clark sidestepped questions over whether he would resign from the cabinet if May decided to preside over a no deal exit. He suggested he would support a series of “indicative votes” in the Commons on the various options for Brexit to establish which could command a majority.
“I have said in public and in discussions that to establish what Parliament wants and what Parliament supports can be a useful step,” he said.
“You need, it seems to me, to move from parliament being just a scrutineer but to be active participants, and that means discovering parliament’s mind.
Jeremy Corbyn will today say general election is the most “practical” and “democratic” way to “break the deadlock” in Parliament over Brexit.
The Labour leader will argue that a government with a new mandate could negotiate a better withdrawal deal as he reiterates his call for another election in a speech in Yorkshire on Thursday.
Corbyn is expected to repeat that his party will vote down the prime minister’s Brexit deal, and will explain Labour’s approach to unite Leave and Remain voters around their common interests.