A no-deal Brexit will amount to an “existential threat” to the United Kingdom, says the first president of European Council, citing Scotland.
The idea of leaving the EU without a deal is an “operation fear” tactic by the British government, Herman Van Rompuy told the Observer Saturday.
The former Belgian prime minister suggested that Crashing out of the bloc without any deal would have consequences with impacts going beyond Brussels or London.
“The no-deal issue is not just a problem for the UK or Brussels,” he said. “It is also an existential threat to the UK itself. One can imagine that a no deal will have a big impact and cause concern in some of the regions. Speaking of Scotland, it could have consequences for them and others,” he said. “We could end up with a situation in which the EU27 becomes more united and a United Kingdom less united. This talk about a ‘no deal’ is the kind of nationalist rhetoric that belongs to another era.”
Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Dominic Raab has told businesses and organizations to prepare for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit amid clashes with the European Union.
“If there is no House of Commons support for no deal, then you are very close to new elections,” Van Rompuy said. “If you have new elections, then article 50 [the legal process for Britain’s EU exit] will have to be postponed, because it will not be clear that you will have a government – or a government with a program.”
Scottish First Minister has reacted to the possibility, saying that such scenario would amount to “unmitigated disaster.”
“A ‘no deal’ Brexit would be an unmitigated disaster – and the fact that UK govt is even talking about it is evidence of their abject failure. That they once had the nerve to tell us that independence threatened our place in Europe adds insult to injury. Scotland deserves better,” she said in a tweet.
A no-deal Brexit could boost prospects for another independence referendum for Scotland, which voted for the UK to stay in the EU by 62 percent to 38 percent. – Press TV.
