Nathalie Loiseau, France's minister for European affairs
Not having any deal on Brexit would be better than a bad deal, French minister for European affairs Nathalie Loiseau said on Wednesday, adding she still hoped a deal could be reached with Britain regarding its exit from the European Union.
"No deal would be better than a bad deal," Loiseau told Radio Classique station.
"A good deal is still possible, but time is running out," she said.
Loiseau's comments came with British Prime Minister Theresa May due to make a keynote speech to her Conservative Party on Wednesday, in which she is expected to say that Britain's impending divorce from the EU is an opportunity that opens up a future full of promise.
British Prime Minister Theresa May needs to change course on Brexit but she should remain as leader, former junior Brexit minister Steve Baker said on Tuesday."I don't really mind who is prime minister as long as we deliver a brilliant exit from the EU," he told Sky news. "This exit from the EU is going to set us for many, many generations. It needs to be done right."He added: "I should be very, very happy if Theresa May changes the policy, stays prime minister and delivers an exit from the EU.'No-deal Brexit would cost European firms up to $18 billion''Don't bully us', Britain takes new combative tone to Brexit talksAt conference, British PM May faces party divided by Brexit
Britain should change Brexit course, not its PM: former minister
Boris Johnson, Prime Minister Theresa May's former foreign secretary, said her Brexit plans were a constitutional outrage that would humiliate the United Kingdom by leaving it under the European Union's sway for generations to come."It would mean that UK business and industry, our entire economy, would be exposed perpetually to regulations that might have been expressly designed at the behest of foreign competitors to do them down," Johnson told the Conservative Party conference in the English city of Birmingham."It would mean that whatever the EU came up with in future ... all this nonsense we would have to implement with no ability to change or resist," he said. "That is not pragmatic, that is not a compromise - it is dangerous and unstable, politically and economically."My fellow Conservatives, this is not democracy. That is not what we voted for," he said.Johnson called on the Conservative Party to chuck out Prime Minister Theresa May's "Chequers" Brexit proposals which he said were an attempt to mislead British voters."This is the moment to chuck Chequers," Johnson said to applause and shouts of "bravo" at the Conservative Party conference."If we cheat the electorate, and Chequers is a cheat, we will escalate that sense of mistrust," he said. "If we get it wrong, if we bottle Brexit now, believe me, the people of this country will find it hard to forgive." You can't leave our house and keep the key: EU official to BritainBeyond the rhetoric, Britain, EU preparing to move forward on BrexitBrexit must not mean deregulation for banks: UK watchdog
UK's Boris Johnson: PM May's Brexit plans are an outrage
Britain cannot leave the European house but keep the key and the right to swing by anytime, a top European Union official told London as Brexit negotiations are entering their final stretch.Speaking at the European Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg, deputy head of the EU's executive, Frans Timmermans said: "We are all under the obligation to do as little harm as possible. That is in the interest of all Europeans, whether they are in the United Kingdom or on continent.""But let me be clear... if somebody says 'I want to leave your house, but I'll take the key and I will come back whenever I like and take whatever I like from that house.", that doesn't work," Timmermans told the sitting.Timmermans said the issue of avoiding border infrastructure and checks between EU member state Ireland and Britain's province of Northern Ireland was "central to our responsibility to do as little harm as possible in these negotiations."Britain is due to become next March the first country to ever leave the EU - but the two have yet to agree on divorce terms or future rules on cooperating on everything from security and trade to air traffic. 'No-deal Brexit would cost European firms up to $18 billion''Don't bully us', Britain takes new combative tone to Brexit talksSterling rises despite fears of Tory Brexit conflictBritain's Hammond says UK can cope with no-deal Brexit
You can't leave our house and keep the key: EU official to Britain