Home Politics Jeremy Hunt: No-deal Brexit market impact would be ‘significant’

LONDON — The market impact of no Brexit deal would be “significant” in the short term, U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said today, as his Latvian counterpart placed the chance of such an outcome at 50-50.

Hunt’s comment, made during a diplomatic visit to Riga, suggests that the U.K. leaving the EU without an overall deal would risk causing a sharp fall in the value of the pound. But the foreign secretary added that the U.K. economy would “find a way to get through it” and “ultimately to thrive,” Reuters reported.

Latvian Minister for Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkevics met Hunt this morning and told a press conference afterward that he rated the possibility of a no-deal Brexit at 50-50. He made the same prediction on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, but added that despite this, he remains “optimistic.”

Hunt told the press conference he does not want to put a percentage on the risk, putting him at odds with International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, who last week rated the chance of no deal at 60-40.

“Of course, there is this risk of a no deal,” Hunt said in Riga. “But I think there are a growing number of countries that recognize that would be a very, very big mistake not just for the United Kingdom, but for the EU as well.”


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