International trade secretary and Brexiteer Liam Fox has claimed that there is now just a 50% chance of Britain leaving the EU if Theresa May’s deal is rejected.
Speaking in the Sunday Times, Fox said that voting for the prime minister’s Brexit plan was the only way to be ‘100% certain’ that the UK will leave the EU.
He added: ‘If we were not to vote for that, I’m not sure I would give it much more than 50-50.’
The disgraced former defence secretary also claimed that it was a ‘matter of honour’ for MPs to back the prime minister in the House of Commons. Failure to do so, he said, would be ‘incendiary.’
Fox also warned that there would be ‘unknowable consequences’ if Parliament votes against the Brexit plan – again claiming that trust in politics would be eroded.
‘Parliament cannot now, with any honour, renege on that result. Were they to do so, I think you would shatter the bond of trust between the electorate and parliament. And I think that would put us into unprecedented territory with unknowable consequences.’
Responding to Fox’s comments, Best for Britain champion Layla Moran MP said: ‘Brexit not happening isn’t 50-50 as Liam Fox says. It’s actually 56-44. That’s the way the public now feels about us stopping this badly-led disaster and strengthening ourselves within the EU.
‘The only thing that is shattering the bond of trust between electorate and parliament is the refusal of ministers like Liam Fox to trust people with the final say on Brexit.’
Liam Fox follows fellow Brexiteer and Conservative MEP Dan Hannan in warning that Brexit ‘might not happen at all’.