WATCH Former civil service chief says no Brexit deal would be an ‘utter disaster’
2 min read
It would be a "complete and utter disaster" for Britain if it were to fail to strike a deal with the EU on Brexit, the former head of the civil service has said.
Speaking on Newsnight, Lord Kerslake dismissed the suggestion previously made by the Prime Minister that "no deal is better than a bad deal".
He said: “It would be a complete and utter disaster for this country we need to be very, very frank about this. There is not a no deal option that would be good for this country.”
Mr Kerslake was also critical of the pressures being imposed on the civil service, saying that dealing with Brexit was an exercise in “damage limitation”.
He added that the general election had failed to clarify the way forward during Brexit negotiations.
He said: “Look, the civil service prides itself on doing the job it’s asked to do by the Government of the day, it serves the Government of the day and the Government of the day is wanting to deliver Brexit…
“There is no upside here. This is about damage limitation and we are working in a situation where policy has not been properly settled…
“An election that was intended to settle the way we left the European Union did nothing of the sort so we still have a very live debate about how the transition period will work and in that situation civil servants will struggle to get coherent policies if the politicians haven’t sorted out there clear priorities.”
Watch his full comments here:
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