Michael Fallon is facing demands to explain why he today said the government had no plan for what to do it ended up securing “no deal” with the EU - despite the Brexit department having previously insisted it did.
The defence secretary told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme this morning:
“We are working for a deal. We are not planning for no deal. We are working flat out for a deal.”
But in August, Boris Johnson was slapped down by the Department for Exiting the European Union after he told MPs there was “no plan for no deal”.
Brexit minister Steve Baker said in response to the foreign secretary’s claim: “In relation to the ‘no deal’ scenario, any responsible government would prepare for a range of possible outcomes from the negotiation, and this is what we are doing.”
Labour MP Chuka Umunna, a leading supporter of the pro-Remain Open Britain campaign group, has today written to Baker to ask for further clarification.
In the letter seen by HuffPost UK, Umunna said: “The government must now come clean and provide full details of any impact assessments and any contingency planning it has conducted for a no deal scenario.
“This shambles of ministers constantly contradicting each other is sowing further confusion for all who will be impacted by Brexit, and it must be brought to an end.”
He added: “The British people deserve a clear yes-or-no answer to a straightforward question. Has the government conducted plans for a ‘no-deal’ scenario, which would be the worst outcome of all, or not?”
Theresa May repeatedly said during the election campaign that “no deal is better than a bad deal”.