Amber Rudd and David Davis split over 'unthinkable' no-deal Brexit
The Home Secretary rubbishes threats of a cliff-edge divorce less than an hour after the Brexit Secretary defends it.
Tuesday 17 October 2017 16:59, UK
Huge splits are threatening to emerge at the top of Government over the possibility of a "no-deal" divorce with the EU.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd described the scenario as "unthinkable" - less than an hour after Brexit Secretary David Davis defended keeping the option open to put pressure on Brussels.
Ms Rudd told the Home Affairs Select Committee negotiations would not fail because "it is (as) much in their interest as in ours".
She vowed: "We will make sure that there is something between them and us to maintain our security."
But in a statement following his return home from , Mr Davis kept the threat of a no-deal alive.
"We are straining every sinew to get a deal - that will be the best outcome," he said. "But for two reasons we need to prepare for all the other alternatives.
"One, because it's a negotiation with many people and could go wrong, and so we have to be ready for that.
"Secondly, because in a negotiation you always have to have the right to walk away - if you don't, you get a terrible deal."
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He later admitted: "The maintenance of the no-deal option is for negotiating reasons."
The split threatens to undermine Theresa May's repeated insistence that "no deal is better than a bad deal" and re-open divisions between Tory MPs that backed Remain and Leave in the EU referendum.
Conservative MP James Duddridge appeared to directly criticise Ms Rudd, telling Sky News: "Far from being unthinkable, no deal would be my preferred choice to achieve a fast, clean and boring Brexit.
"The sooner we get on with it, the better."
Remain-supporting Labour MP Chuka Umunna also hit out at the split between Ms Rudd and Mr Davis, claiming it was "increasing the likelihood of our country crashing out of the EU with an extreme, destructive Brexit".
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Earlier, Mr Davis accused the EU of stalling to see if it can "get more money out of us".
He claimed the UK was going further than Brussels on offers of citizens' rights, hailing a "new dynamic" in talks.
Meanwhile, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warned: "It is very important to understand that time time passes very quickly, the clock is ticking very fast."