Sadiq Khan: Even this government isn't pig-headed enough to go for no-deal Brexit now

12 June 2020, 11:51

Sadiq Khan confident over a Brexit deal

Sadiq Khan told LBC that he's confident the government will agree a Brexit deal before the end of the year.

The Mayor of London warned that a large number of businesses would not be able to cope with the "double whammy" of the coronavirus pandemic and a no-deal Brexit.

And Mr Khan said he believed that even this government wasn't pig-headed enough to leave the EU without agreeing a free-trade deal.

Speaking to James O'Brien, he said: "I'm confident that we'll do a deal.

"I think even this government is not that pig-headed. The idea that Johnson, Sunak, Raab and Gove would go into next year, still potentially in the midst of Covid-19, without a deal with the EU would be the worst form of self-harm this country has ever seen.

"I think they realise the importance of this.

"They've got no choice. We're talking about levels of mass unemployment we've not seen since the 1980s and you'll know that employers have started to consult their staff on redundancies because they've been told by the government that they've got to pay 20% of their wages and they can't afford to do so.

"The government's got to be pragmatic - I know that's an oxymoron when it comes to this government - and realise that actually that a deal with the EU, although they may get a few days of bad press from their friends in the media, it's worth that short-term pain for us to recover from the consequences of Covid-19."

The Mayor also revealed he has not spoken to the Prime Minister for more than a month, stating that he learns of the government's plans for his city from the 5pm Downing Street briefings.

Watch his comments at the top of the page.