[Published: Wednesday November 28 2018]
 Brexit will leave UK economy worse off, says Hammond
LONDON 28 Nov (ANA) - All forms of Brexit will make the UK worse off but Theresa May's plan is the best available, says Chancellor Philip Hammond.
Analysis of the prime minister's Brexit deal shows the economy will be "slightly smaller", he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
But it was not just about the economy, he argued, and her plan would deliver "political benefits" as well.
It comes as the government is due to publish its economic analysis on the long-term effects of Brexit on the UK.
The Treasury will set out various scenarios - with the Daily Telegraph saying it will predict £ 150bn in lost output over 15 years under no deal, with Theresa May's plan costing £ 40bn.
With two weeks until MPs vote on the deal, Mr Hammond said: "We're going to go out and we're going to sell this deal."
He said if the deal was not voted through Parliament, Mrs May's cabinet would sit down and "decide how best to proceed".
Under any scenario, in a "purely economic sense" the UK will be worse off than if it stayed in the EU, as exiting will created "impediments to our trade", said the chancellor.
He argued that staying in the EU was not politically "viable".
And the government's planned Brexit deal combines most of the economic benefits of remaining in the EU with the political benefits of leaving the EU.
"What the prime minister's deal does is absolutely minimises those costs, and reduces to an absolute minimum the economic impact of leaving the EU, while delivering the political benefits, in terms of being able to do third-country trade deals, having control of our fishing waters, and the many other issues that will be delivered politically," he told the Today programme.
Meanwhile, the PM will visit Scotland and argue she was "robust" in defending UK fishing in her Brexit talks.(ANA)
FA/ANA/28 November 2018--------
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