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Brexit minister vows that UK is out of Europe, one way or another

As Remainers push for a second referendum, the Conservative government swears it will honour the 'exit' vote's victory.

As Remainers push for a second referendum, the Conservative government swears it will honour the 'exit' vote's victory. Photo: AAP

Britain will leave the European Union “in fact, not just in name”, says Brexit minister Dominic Raab, warning that London’s “willingness to compromise is not without limits” and leaving without a deal is very much an option.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s government has adopted a new strident tone in its dealings with the EU, angered after what some saw as an ambush in Austria last month, when several of the bloc’s leaders criticised some of her Brexit proposals.

But ministers are also keen to use the governing Conservative Party’s annual conference in the central English city of Birmingham to try to win over Brexit supporters who fear May is leading Britain towards leaving the EU in name only.

Mr Raab says the government will fight any attempt to try to keep Britain too closely in the EU’s sphere or to try to split the United Kingdom by forcing the British province of Northern Ireland to adopt a different set of customs rules.

Just six months before Britain is due to leave the EU in the country’s biggest shift in foreign and trade policy in more than 40 years, the debate over how to leave the bloc is still raging in the centre-right Conservative Party, and even in government.

With no agreement on the divorce and continued wrangling over Britain’s future relationship with the EU, the probability of a so-called “no-deal Brexit” has risen – something that Raab and other ministers said should not be feared.

The main opposition Labour Party accused Raab of being “in denial” over May’s Chequers plan, named after her country residence where an agreement was hashed out with her ministers in July.

But Raab said he was pursuing a deal that “delivers on the referendum, because “that’s our democratic duty”.

“If we can’t obtain a deal that secures that objective, then we will be left with no choice but to leave without a deal,” he said.

-AAP

Topics: Brexit
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