EU forcing No-Deal Brexit will poison relations for a generation – Putin wins says Hunt

He spoke in Berlin, during his first overseas visit since replacing Boris Johnson when he quit in protest at the Cabinet’s agreed proposals on Britain’s future relationship with the European Union.

Back in the UK, Theresa May strongly defended her proposals as set out in her white paper, struck an optimistic note about Brexit and declared: “Our future is what we make it.”

The Government is stepping up preparations for Britain to leave the EU next March 29 without a deal, but insists its blueprint for an agreement is one that Brussels should respond positively to.

In Berlin, alongside German foreign minister Heiko Maas, Mr Hunt urged the EU to show more flexibility in talks or risk damaging relations with Britain for a generation.

“Without a real change in approach from the EU negotiators, we do now face a real risk of ‘no deal’ by accident,” he said.

“That would be incredibly challenging economically.

“Britain would find that challenging but in the end we would find a way not just to survive but to thrive economically.

“But my real concern is that it would change British public attitudes to Europe for a generation.

“It would lead to a fissure in relations which would be highly damaging for that great partnership that we have had for so many years, which has been so important in sustaining the international order.”

He declared: “I think that many people in the EU are thinking that they just have to wait long enough and Britain will blink. And that’s not going to happen.”

He added in a Tweet that “the only person rejoicing” at a no-deal Brexit would be Mr Putin.

His comments were seen as unusually forthright for a diplomat and were in stark contrast to predecessor Mr Johnson’s assertion that a no-deal Brexit “doesn’t hold terrors”.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said Mr Hunt was referring to the dangers of damaging EU-British cooperation on security.

She added that while Mrs May still thought no deal better than a bad deal with Brussels, the Government does not expect that outcome.

After Mr Hunt’s meeting with Mr Maas, the German foreign ministry said many of the proposals in Mrs May’s Brexit white paper “raise questions on both sides of the Channel” which would have to be examined by the European Commission, which is leading EU Brexit talks with the UK.

The priority for foreign minister Mr Maas was the UK and EU agreeing “binding rules” to govern relations after Brexit.

“We don’t want a disorderly Brexit, we want an agreement,” stressed Mr Maas.

“Despite Brexit, we will continue to stand for the same values and interests.”

Mr Hunt’s trip marked the start of a hectic week of oversees diplomatic activity by ministers seeking to build support for their strategy.

Mrs May herself is expected to hold talks with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and other EU leaders at the Salzburg Festival on Friday.

On Monday she chaired an end-of-term Cabinet “awayday” in north-east England, at Gateshead’s state-of-the-art Sage music venue.

They focused on Government achievements this year and its latest industrial, regional and infrastructure investment plans.

Later Mrs May visited the Reece Group engineering firm in Newcastle to take workers’ questions.

Asked what confidence she had that she could “sell” her Brexit plans to the rest of Europe, she said a good partnership deal between the EU and UK would be good for the EU as well as Britain.

“What I see in the EU as we are coming close to leaving on March 29, 2019, is people focusing their minds on the impact that the future relationship will have on their economies as well as ours.

“We’ve had some constructive responses so far. I won’t say that you won’t hear some negative things being said, but so far, constructive responses.”

Asked if a no-deal exit was inevitable if the UK Parliament rejects an EU deal, she said: “We are stepping up our plans for no-deal but I’m working to get a deal that Parliament will support because they will see it’s a good deal for the UK.”

She said “creative, entrepreneurial” Britain would “do really well post-Brexit, be much more outward-looking”.

Mrs May – who has been urged by some colleagues to sound more positive about Brexit – added: “Many people said that immediately after the referendum, we would see a collapse in our economy. In fact our economy has continued to grow.

“Our future is what we make it.”

She insisted there should not be a second referendum, stressing, in what will also be seen as a message to her own anti-Brexit rebels: “People chose and it’s now for Parliament to deliver on people’s choice.”

Mrs May on Monday reached for her tried-and-tested formula of walking, cooking and watching crime TV, when asked how she relaxed.

She seemed uncomfortable when asked in Newcastle how she coped with “probably the world’s most stressful job at the moment”.

Her eventual response will be no surprise to followers of her interviews dating back to 2016.

She told the audience that she and her husband Philip enjoyed walking when they had time.

“I enjoy cooking, which has a benefit because you get to eat it as well as make it – I own over 150 cookbooks so I spend quite a lot of time looking at cookbooks.”

Reiterating her fondness for a US crime series about agents investigating wrongdoing in the navy, she asked her audience: “Does anyone here know the American series NCIS? I quite like watching NCIS when I can.”