Hunt Seeks to Boost Credentials With Plan for No-Deal Brexit

(Bloomberg) -- Jeremy Hunt will seek to burnish his Brexit credentials Monday as he sets out his strategy for preparing the U.K. for a no-deal departure from the European Union

The foreign secretary, who campaigned for the “remain” side in 2016's referendum, will use a speech in London to lay out the plan, which includes preparing for a no-deal budget that will cut corporation tax and ease the burden for U.K. retailers.

Hunt, who is fighting frontrunner Boris Johnson to become the next prime minister, has regularly said his preference is to leave the EU with a deal. Still, he says he would consider taking the nation out of the bloc without an agreement if necessary, even if it hurts businesses.

“Britain deserves a leader with the courage to not just tell the European Commission he will walk away, but to show them he is willing and able to do so,” he will say, according to excerpts released by his campaign team. “Because in the end, without those abilities, without that determination, and without that plan, it is just a wing and a prayer.”

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Hunt's no-deal plans also include a 6 billion-pound ($7.6 billion) stimulus package to protect fishing and farming and setting up a cabinet task force to ensure government departments are ready to leave.

Hunt and Johnson are facing off in the Tory party leadership contest, which will end later this month. As the party in power, the new leader will take over as prime minister.

The speech is Hunt's latest attempt to convince the Conservative Party membership that he is serious about Brexit. It's an issue where he particularly lags Johnson, who commands the support of the hardline Brexiteers thanks, in part, to his high visibility in the “leave” campaign in 2016.

In his Daily Telegraph column for Monday, Johnson repeated his pledge to leave the EU on Oct. 31, come what may. Doing so, he said, would prove that Vladmir Putin's pronouncements of the death of liberalism are wrong, he wrote, in a column that also flagged failures in Russia's domestic economy.

“If we fail yet again, and kick the can down the road, we will continue to undermine trust in politics,” Johnson wrote. “If we say that it is not a ‘hard' deadline, we will fuel the suspicion that there is a conspiracy by the elite to frustrate the will of the people.”

The two candidates took the campaign to the TV studios on Sunday, as both insisted they were the best man to reach a new deal with the EU, but that they were ready to leave empty handed if negotiations failed.

The current party leader, Theresa May, disagrees with both men. Speaking before what could be her final EU summit in Brussels Sunday, May insisted the U.K. should leave with a “good deal.” She is stepping down after failing to deliver on Brexit.

While much of the focus in the race to succeed May has been on Brexit, the two men also defended the economics behind their ambitious spending plans.

In an interview on Sky's “Ridge on Sunday,” Johnson said there is cash available to fund his proposals for tax cuts and higher spending, adding he's prepared to increase borrowing to “finance great infrastructure projects.” In an interview with the Times Monday, Johnson's ally Matt Hancock said the former foreign secretary would also “some love” to public-sector workers with a pay rise if we wins the race to Number 10.

Meanwhile, speaking in a BBC interview Sunday, Hunt said his plans to cut corporation tax could help boost growth and unlock money for spending. He said he could use the fiscal headroom in the Treasury to boost spending, although he admitted that a no-deal Brexit would mean he wouldn't have the money “at his fingertips,” and some of his spending pledges would be delayed.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann

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