Cabinet ministers warn against no-deal Brexit

It’s still not the government’s policy to rule out a no-deal Brexit, but cabinet ministers have been lining up to warn against it.  In parliament, the Business Secretary Greg Clark said it should “not be contemplated”, and Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd told this morning’s cabinet that it would make the country “less safe”.

In the Commons this evening, a cross-party group of senior backbenchers opposed to a no-deal Brexit has inflicted an embarrassing defeat on the government in a vote on the finance bill that will limit the Treasury’s tax-raising powers in the event of no deal. That trial of strength is a sign of the running battles that the Commons will face over the next week as the Brexit debate reaches its climax.