Leaving the European Union without a divorce deal would be “tough at first” for Britain and “a bad outcome” for both sides, Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday at her party’s annual conference in Birmingham.
May is urging her fractious Conservative Party to unite and help her seal a deal with the bloc.
With Britain set to leave the bloc on March 29,, talks are stalled and a powerful pro-Brexit faction in May’s party is urging her to be tough and, if need be, walk away without a deal.
In a speech to the party’s annual conference Wednesday, she said “leaving without a deal — introducing tariffs and costly checks at the border — would be a bad outcome for the U.K. and the EU,” though she refused to rule it out.
She said it would be tough at first, but Britain’s “resilience and ingenuity” would see it through. She reiterated that the voters have spoken and there would be no second referendum.
Her plea to unify behind “decent, moderate and patriotic” policies came a day after her rival and former foreign secretary Boris Johnson trashed her so-called Chequers plan for Brexit and challenged her authority, though he stopped short of declaring his intentions to be the next party leader.
The referendum was called by May’s predecessor, David Cameron. After winning the party leadership battle in 2016, she sought to solidify her claim with a spring 2017 election, but the Conservatives lost 13 seats and needed the pledge of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party and their 10 seats to remain in power.
May received a standing ovation after dancing onto the stage to Dancing Queen by ABBA, a self-deprecating reference to social media memes that emerged after she danced at a ceremony on her recent trip to Africa.
She was not plagued by the mishaps of last year’s speech, which was dogged by a bad cough and falling signage onstage.