UK's Hammond warns of hit to economy from a no-deal Brexit

[May 21, 2019]  LONDON (Reuters) - British finance minister Philip Hammond said a no-deal Brexit would leave the country poorer, repeating his warnings to potential successors of Prime Minister Theresa May, some of whom have advocated an abrupt departure from the European Union.

"First of all there will clearly be short-term disruption which will have an unpredictable and potentially significant effect on our economy," Hammond told lawmakers in parliament on Tuesday.

"Probably more importantly, all the analysis that the government has done and published - and external commentators have done and published - show that there will be a longer-term effect which means that our economy will be smaller than it otherwise would have been. And I didn't come into politics in order to make our economy smaller."

(Reporting by David Milliken; Writing by William Schomberg)

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.