Looking at how true these comments are and if this means Britain is locked into a No Deal, Sputnik spoke to Alex Cairns, Chief Executive Officer of The Youth Vote for more insight on the issue.
Sputnik: Jeremy Hunt has said that a risk of a no deal Brexit is rising and everyone needs to prepare. Alex, is that it then? Is Britain heading towards a no deal Brexit?
For two main reasons, one is that I think the white paper did not give all the clarity that some MPs were looking for and I suppose the cabinet division does not help.
When you’ve got remainers and leavers on both sides of the argument in Theresa May’s cabinet, there will be individuals who will be concerned that we’re heading towards a no deal Brexit and there will be others who are more positive because the of the fact that the white paper is more liberal and less of hard Brexit stance and more of a center ground. I don’t think we’re heading towards a no deal.
Alex Cairns: As a CEO of the Youth Vote, I try to be politically neutral in looking at this because I think its much better looking at this from a business perspective… what are the facts? What is the strategy in terms of the direction the country is heading in terms of our negotiation stance, and what potentially is the right thing to do.
I think Theresa May is in a difficult position, I think she came into Number 10 in quite an uncertain time, for two main reasons; firstly we are departing the European Union and second because Britain faced quite a few terror attacks last year and I think she’s trying to deal with counter terrorism and running the country alongside negotiating our future position with the European Union.
It does disappoint me that some of the cabinet, is trying to play political football in terms of whether they agree or disagree with what she’s doing and I think actually the right thing to do is get behind the Prime Minister.
Alex Cairns: It’s not necessarily a good thing; I think any negotiation one of the sides will try to have the upper hand. I think potentially Michel Barnier and the EU have the upper hand for two main reasons… obviously there is a bloc of 27 who want to keep the EU together and who are probably quite frustrated at the UK for voting to leave.
I think Barnier is exploiting that but I don’t think he’s being unhelpful and I would like to see the EU coming to some sensible arrangements and positions because obviously they have to respect the decision that the majority of the country voted to leave.
It’s not productive for the negotiators trying to make the country stay in the single market because obviously that would alienate more than 50% of the country, from a business perspective I can understand that because we need to get frictionless trade with Europe but I don’t think its productive to be difficult at the negotiating table.
I think we should be collaborative and work together as partners, and think that’s the best strategy to take.
Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Alex Cairns and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.