No-deal Brexit ‘political suicide’ for Conservatives: Britain's Foreign Secretary (Foreign Minister) Jeremy Hunt

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt delivers a statement on the sideline of the World Health Assembly on May 20, 2019 at the United Nations Offices in Geneva. (Photo by AFP)
Britain's Foreign Secretary (Foreign Minister) Jeremy Hunt has said it would be "political suicide" for the ruling Conservative Party to bring Britain out of the European Union without an agreement through a general election.

In an article for the Daily Telegraph published on Tuesday, Hunt also expressed his desire of becoming the next prime minister of the country by replacing Prime Minister Theresa May.

Hunt wrote that he would look for more time to secure a new Brexit deal if he replaced May, who last week announced she would be stepping down on June 7.

Hunt said that a promise to leave the European Union by a specific date with or without an agreement would not be approved by lawmakers who oppose no-deal Brexit and trigger a national election.

"Trying to deliver no deal through a general election is not a solution; it is political suicide," Hunt wrote.

"A different deal is, therefore, the only solution – and what I will pursue if I am leader."

Hunt, who voted remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, is among ten Conservative lawmakers who have announced their bid to become the next leader of a Tory party which is suffering from a falling popularity due to the failure of the government to deliver on the results of the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union.

Boris Johnson, who is a frontrunner to replace May as party leader and prime minister, has said that Britain should leave "deal or no-deal" on October 31.

"I have always believed that no deal is better than no Brexit, but parliament has passed laws to stop a government willingly walking into no deal," he said.

Hunt said he would try to secure a different deal to the agreement negotiated by May, which failed to get approval three times from British parliament.This is while Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn warned on Monday he would not allow the ruling Conservatives to bring Britain out of the European Union without a deal, and said that the only way to resolve a current political standoff over Brexit was to allow people in Britain to have a say on the issue through a fresh vote.

Corbyn said that Labour would stand by its promises to bloc a no-deal Brexit, a scenario in which Britain would crash out of the EU without an agreement to cushion the shocks of exit.

Experts believe that a no-deal Brexit would be indispensible at the end of October, when Britain is supposed to leave the EU, given that senior figures vying to May are supporting the idea.