Sir Vince Cable: Talk of a no-deal Brexit a 'fantasy' to get MPs to 'jump behind' Theresa May's plans

Sir Vince Cable

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Talk of a no-deal Brexit is a "fantasy" designed to motivate MPs to "jump behind" Theresa May's Brexit plans, Sir Vince Cable has claimed.

The Liberal Democrat leader told talkRADIO's Julia Hartley-Brewer that a no-deal Brexit was "highly improbable".

"I've always thought the talk about no deal was a bit of a fantasy. It was designed to motivate people who were wavering to jump behind whatever it is she's doing," he said.



"Either she's going to come back with a deal which ties us in very closely to the European Union, which is pretty pointless to be honest, Brexit doesn't mean anything in those circumstances, or there's a very hard break, which would do an enormous amount of damage."

Theresa May has said Brexit is "now in the endgame", suggesting a deal could be close.


'Civil war'

Sir Vince, who is against leaving the European Union, said Brexit negotiations had been overshadowed by "internal divisions and civil war" within the Conservative party.

"It became an internal Conservative party matter and that's the fundamental trouble," he said.

"It ceased being a national negotiation, it's been an internal negotiaton within the Conservative party and their internal divisions and civil war have brought us to this."