Brexit: Sajid Javid repeatedly fails to rule out no-deal amid concerns over EU trade agreement

'There is not a single doubt' that a trade agreement can be agreed 'within months', says chancellor

Sajid Javid has repeatedly failed to rule out a no-deal Brexit at the end of next year amid concerns the Conservative Party manifesto had left the door open for the UK to crash out of the EU without agreement.

The chancellor said the prospect of a disorderly exit was "remote" as he claimed he had "not a single doubt" that Boris Johnson could secure a complex free trade deal with the EU "within months", in order to deliver on the promise to "Get Brexit Done" next year.

But critics said it was "incompetent or dishonest" to suggest a deal could be done in this tight timetable, which only allows the government 11 months to seal a trade deal with the EU - a feat which would usually take several years to conclude.

The conflict centres on the fact that the Brexit deal that Mr Johnson hopes to implement next month, if elected, covers the divorce bill and withdrawing from the EU but does not cover the vital future trading relationship between the UK and the bloc.

And the Tory manifesto ruled out any extension to the transition period where this relationship can be firmed up beyond December 2020 - creating a new no-deal cliff edge.

Mr Javid was asked multiple times whether he would rule out a disorderly exit from the bloc during a radio interview as the election campaign entered its final week.

Asked if there could be a no-deal Brexit, he said: "I am confident that we will get the deal done for the reasons that I have set out."

Pressed again, Mr Javid said: "I think that is an extremely remote situation."

He was reminded that Tory cabinet minister Dominic Raab had said no-deal was still on the table but failed to rule it out, saying the UK and the EU have "agreed on both sides on what the future looks like".

Pressed a fourth time, Mr Javid said: "The real possibility of no deal is if we get a hung parliament and Corbyn in No10 because he has no plan."

The chancellor insisted a Tory government could strike a "zero tariff" trade deal in time for the deadline, claiming there was "not a single doubt" in his mind over the government's ability to seal a deal.

"Of course there is going to be some details to discuss but the important thing that's taken us forward is that we know exactly what we want, and that the EU has accepted that, Mr Javid told BBC's Today programme.

"It works for them, it works for us, it will mean that we still have a close economic relationship, it gives us back control of our borders, our law, our money, and it's an arrangement that in principle.

"Because there's an agreement, there is not a single doubt in my mind that it can be agreed within months and we can get it through parliament by 2020."

Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Chuka Umunna said: "Who does Sajid Javid think he's kidding?

"He's either incompetent or dishonest to pretend that the Tories could achieve a Canadian style EU trade deal by December 2020. That deal took seven years to negotiate; only a fantasist would think it's possible to do it in less than a year.

"This is just another leave lie from a government that has already wasted three years failing to secure support in Parliament for step one: a Withdrawal Agreement.

"We might start from a position of convergence, but the purpose of Brexit is to diverge. Let's not pretend it will be easy. The Tories are willing to risk crashing out of the EU with no deal at the end of December 2020, in full knowledge of the immeasurable harm this will do to our family of nations."

It comes as leaked documents shows EU leaders are set to issue an election result-day warning to Boris Johnson that he has only “limited” time to avoid a no-deal Brexit.