The British finance minister Philip Hammond warns his fellow party members who stand up for the position of prime minister and leader of the Conservatives that a hard brexit will be disastrous for the British economy. “We need to get the ghost image of a no-deal brexit off the table as quickly as possible,” Hammond told the BBC.

“I don’t know if people understand the risks we take if we leave without a deal, not only with our economy but also with the future of our dear United Kingdom. I personally think that it will not work out well. “If Theresa May’s successor steer for a hard brexit, Hammond says it will vote against.

Within the Conservatives there are eleven candidates to succeed May. Boris Johnson would be the favorite. May resigns on June 7. She failed three times to get her brexit deal with the EU through the British parliament.

Hammond hopes that it will not be a new election, but that the impasse around the Brexit can be resolved by the parliament under a new prime minister.

“Elections will not solve anything, for the simple reason that the two major parties are internally divided on the issue. The dividing line does not run between the parties, but within the parties.”