UK warns of threat of ‘chaotic’ Brexit

BERLIN: Britain’s new Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned during a visit to Berlin on Monday of the threat a chaotic British departure from the bloc poses to the European Union. There is now “a very real threat of a Brexit no-deal by accident, and this is because many people in the EU are thinking that they just have to wait long enough and Britain will blink,” Hunt said after a meeting with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. In his comments, Hunt called on EU negotiators to take a more constructive role in Brexit negotiations with Britain, which is scheduled to leave the 28-member bloc on March 29 next year.

“Without a real change in approach from the EU negotiators we now face a real risk of a no-deal by accident, and that would be incredibly challenging economically,” Hunt said, adding that it could further cloud relations between Britain and Europe. “My real fear is that it would change the British public attitude towards Europe for a generation,” said Hunt, who campaigned for Britain to remain a part of the EU in the 2016 referendum when Britons voted to end their nation’s EU membership. Hunt went on to say that it would lead to a rift in the relationship that would greatly damage the partnership that London has been cultivating for many years. The foreign secretary later tweeted that the only person who would be happy with a no-deal Brexit would be Russian President Vladimir Putin.