UK POOL
London - 1 July 2019
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Hunt, British Foreign Secretary and Conservative candidate for Prime Minister:
"Throughout the campaign I've made it clear that my preference is for us to leave with a better deal, one that addresses the problems with the existing deal and specifically the backstop, ensures we have a fully independent trade policy and allows us to design our own immigration system. I know that with my experience of business and government I'm the best placed candidate to get that better deal. But I also know that renegotiation will not be easy. But it won't be impossible either. And with the parliamentary arithmetic that we face, securing a deal that can pass through Parliament remains the quickest and safest way to deliver Brexit."
++BLACK FRAMES++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Hunt, British Foreign Secretary and Conservative candidate for Prime Minister:
"But what if the European Union refuses to budge? We need a comprehensive no deal plan, because Brexit is about more than slogans more than belief more than positive thinking. You can't leave the European Union on a wing and a prayer. You need a plan. Today I'm setting up my ten point plan. Firstly on day one of my premiership I will order an immediate ramping up of no deal preparations."
++BLACK FRAMES++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Hunt, British Foreign Secretary and Conservative candidate for Prime Minister:
"In order to avoid a 'take it or leave it approach' which would be fatal to negotiations, I and the Brexit secretary will engage with European leaders and the European Commission during July and August to do our very best to come to an agreed way forward. I'll also establish fifthly a National Logistics Committee led by the Department of Transport to produce a plan to keep goods flowing in and out of the UK in the event of no deal. This will include an assessment of any emergency powers required to ensure ports and airports will work in a coordinated way nationally."
++BLACK FRAMES++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Hunt, British Foreign Secretary and Conservative candidate for Prime Minister:
"The Treasury will start preparations on a no deal Brexit budget to be delivered the first week Parliament is back in September. This will include my existing policies of cutting corporation tax to 12 and a half percent, increasing the Annual Investment Allowance to five million pounds and taking 90 percent of high street businesses out of rates which I will introduce in any circumstance. Number seven, HMT will also produce a no deal relief programme. This will include a six billion pound fund for the fishing and farming sectors who export to Europe to ease transition out of the European Union whilst honouring our international obligations. It will also consider what relief other industries will require."
++BLACK FRAMES++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Hunt, British Foreign Secretary and Conservative candidate for Prime Minister:
"I'll make a judgment on the 30th of September as to whether there is a realistic chance of a new deal being agreed that can pass through the House of Commons. If my judgment and the judgment of my cabinet is that there is a deal to be done, I will seek to conclude the negotiations and pass a new meaningful vote and any necessary legislation in the House of Commons before the end of October. If my judgment is that there is no deal to be done I will immediately cease all discussions with the European Union and focus the whole country's mission on no deal preparations. One thing I will not negotiate on is citizens rights. So to put the millions of EU citizens who have made the UK their home, to put them all at ease I can reconfirm to them that their rights in the UK will be protected whatever the outcome."
++BLACK FRAMES++
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Hunt, British Foreign Secretary and Conservative candidate for Prime Minister:
"If the (European) Commission engages in good faith and negotiations are going well, then I don't believe we should ignore progress made and throw away that deal for the sake of an arbitrary deadline. With a deal done, billions more will be available to invest in the economic and social missions that I've set out and we should welcome that. But I want to be crystal clear with members of the Conservative party, with my parliamentary colleagues and with the European Union: if there is no engagement on this deal, if it's apparent that the Commission is simply not interested in negotiating, if there's no willingness to tackle the shortcomings of the backstop and if there is no immediate prospect of a deal that can get through Parliament, then there will be no kicking the can down the road and we will intensify and finalise our preparations to leave without a deal. So from the start of my premiership I will work on the basis that we are leaving on the 31st of October with or without a deal unless the Commission changes its position. No deal is not my preferred destination, but if a withdrawal deal is simply not on the cards, then the only way to fulfill the democratic mandate of the referendum is to leave without a deal, which is what we will do."
++BLACK FRAMES++
UK Foreign Secretary and Conservative leadership contender Jeremy Hunt said Monday that he would decide whether a Brexit deal can get through the House of Commons by September 30th if he became prime minister.
At a speech in London outlining his 10 point plan for Brexit, Hunt said that he would ramp up no-deal preparations "on day one" if he was elected, pledging a 6 billion pound (7.6 billion US dollar) fund to support the fishing and farming sectors who export to Europe.
Hunt added that if he assessed there was no deal to be done he would "immediately cease all discussions with the European Union and focus the whole country's mission on no deal preparations."
He assured EU citizens that their rights would be protected whatever the outcome.
Hunt clarified that no deal was "not my preferred destination, but if a withdrawal deal is simply not on the cards, then the only way to fulfill the democratic mandate of the referendum is to leave without a deal, which is what we will do."
The discussion over a no-deal Brexit is at the forefront of the battle for the leadership of the Conservative Party between Hunt and Boris Johnson.
The winner will become prime minister next month.
Johnson, a former mayor of London, has said Britain will leave on October 31 "do or die" while Hunt says it's an artificial deadline that could be extended again.
Brexit has already been delayed from its original date of March 29 after Parliament rejected Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal three times.
Both leadership candidates have said they will look to negotiate changes to the withdrawal agreement that deals with citizens' rights post-Brexit, Britain's financial obligations to the EU and making sure no hard border returns between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.
