‘No deal’ Brexit could trigger new recession, senior Cabinet minister warns

EU flag at Westminster - Image credit: Picture by Daniel Leal-Olivas PA Wire/PA Images

A senior Cabinet minister has warned that a ‘no deal’ Brexit could trigger a new recession.

The top Tory alleged that leaving the EU without a deal would trigger “a sharp recession at least as bad as 2008.”

The senior minister told The Sun: “We have to go public on just how bad no deal would be, and it would be really bad.

“It’s that or Chequers, and people need to understand that.”

The comments provoked fury among Tory Brexiteers who said that the warnings were another example of the UK Government running a “Project Fear 2” campaign to help build support for Theresa May’s Chequers deal.

And the warning comes just days after the Prime Minister said that making disaster-scenario preparations was the “sensible” thing to do as it was revealed that the UK Government were preparing stockpiles of food and medicine

The Prime Minister said that the plans were “necessary” but that the public should be “far from worried” about the preparations.

She said: “I think people should take reassurance from the fact that this is a government that is saying, ‘you know what, we are going to be responsible about this, we are going to be sensible about this’.”

She added: “I believe we can get a good deal. But actually it’s right that we say, because we don’t know what the outcome is going to be… let’s prepare for every eventuality.”

But former Brexit Minister Steve Baker, who resigned in protest at Mrs May’s Chequers deal, dismissed the comments from the unnamed minister as “hysterics.”

“These hysterics are a tragic failure of leadership”, he said.

“The British public had the courage to vote Leave despite just such warnings – warnings which were proven to be wrong.

“The task before every minister today is to find the guts to get on with it, not the excuse to capitulate.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister was yesterday forced to deny reports that the army were being placed on stand-by to step in to deal with disruption to supply chains in the event of a ‘no deal’ scenario.

They insisted there were “no plans to involve the army in a no deal scenario.”

Adding: “I can’t be any clearer or firmer than that. I don’t know where the speculation came from but there are no plans."