A Cabinet minister has contradicted Theresa May’s threat to crash out of the EU without an agreement if necessary, insisting: “We need to have a deal.”
Greg Clark, the business secretary, spoke out after Toyota became the latest UK car giant to warn it would have to halt production if there was a no-deal Brexit, putting jobs at risk.
Mr Clark said “people in good jobs up and down the country are looking to our national leaders to make sure a deal is approved”.
And he added: “The prime minister and our negotiating team are absolutely determined and recognise, of course, that we need to have a deal, that we want to have the best deal.
“We are one of the world's leaders in the next generation of automotive technology. To see that slip through our fingers is something we would regret forever.”
The comments are a far cry from Ms May’s continued insistence, repeated after the EU threw out her Chequers proposals, that “no deal is better than a bad deal”.
Other senior ministers, led by Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, and Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, have argued Britain could “thrive” after crashing out, after initial disruption.
But Mr Clark said a deal was essential to avoid border costs and delays on the flow of goods and for Britain to grab the huge benefits from a “crucial moment in the future of car manufacturing”.
The industry was heading for “more change in next few years than for decades”, with the introduction of electric and driverless cars, investment Britain badly needed.
“These are some of the best jobs in the country paying more than half above the national and leading to jobs for small businesses across the country,” he told BBC Radio 4.
Mr Clark denied the Chequers plan was “a dead duck”, arguing the two sides were still negotiating and that it was “precisely calibrated to avoid those checks at the border”.
Earlier, the UK head of Toyota suggested the company would halt car production for “months” if a no-deal Brexit left it unable to source parts from across Europe for assembly in Britain.
Toyota employs 3,000 people in the UK at two sites, the main vehicle assembly plant in Burnaston, Derbyshire and an engine site in north Wales.
It is the latest car manufacturer to warn of the severe impact of a hard Brexit on the vital automotive sector, following Jaguar Land Rover, BMW and Honda.
“If we crash out of the EU and just one supplier part is missing, we will not be able to produce cars during that time,” Mr Cook told BBC News.
“We cannot predict if the impact of a hard Brexit would be hours, days, weeks or months, so we cannot predict whether or not such interruptions would continue for just a few hours, days or months.”
Toyota announced in February that Burnaston would build its latest version of the Auris model and unveiled plans to invest £240m in the plant in March 2017.
Mr Cooke also warned the UK car industry would shrink even if there was a deal which imposed customs checks and other costs at the border.
“It would reduce our competitiveness. Sadly, I think that would reduce the number of cars made in the UK and that would cost jobs.”
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