British Brexit Secretary David Davis delivers his keynote speech at the Conservative Party's annual conference in Manchester, Britain, on Oct. 3, 2017. Britain has drawn up contingency plans for a "no deal" result in negotiations over its future with the European Union (EU), British Brexit Secretary David Davis said Tuesday. (Xinhua/Han Yan)
LONDON, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Britain has drawn up contingency plans for a "No deal" result in negotiations over its future with the European Union (EU), British Brexit Secretary David Davis said Tuesday.
Speaking to a packed hall at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Davis gave the strongest hint yet that Britain could leave the EU without a deal.
His speech took place as Members of European Parliament meeting for a plenary session in Strasbourg said not enough progress had been made so far on the negotiations.
Meanwhile, Davis outlined Britain's plans in a keynote speech to the conference.
He said if the Brexit talks fail, Britain was ready "for any contingency and any outcome".
"If the outcome of the negotiation falls short of the deal that Britain needs, we will be ready for the alternative," said Davis.
He added that there was a determined exercise underway in Whitehall devoted to contingency arrangements so that Britain would be ready for what was to come.
"On the negotiating front, we are aiming for a good deal and that is what we expect to achieve," he added.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, in his keynote speech, answered claims Monday that he was chasing the keys to 10 Downing Street by giving his backing to Prime Minister Theresa May.
Johnson, who has faced calls from some Conservatives to be fired, has been accused of wanting May's top job.
He told thousands of delegates at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester that May's front team of ministers in her government cabinet were behind "every syllable" of her recent keynote Brexit speech in Florence.
May, he said, won more votes than any party leader and took the Conservatives to its highest share of the vote in any British election in the last 25 years.
"The whole country owes her a debt for her steadfastness in taking Britain forward," adding that she would achieve a "great deal" for Britain in its negotiations to leave the EU.
Johnson also urged people to stop complaining about last year's referendum result in which the majority of British people voted to leave the EU.
Johnson said he would be prepared to work on Brexit with the official opposition Labor Party "putting aside our differences for the sake of the country", he said. But he said Labor, led by left-winger Jeremy Corbyn, had been playing a different game.
He was also critical of anti-Brexit newspapers and skeptics who he said believed Britain was not up to leaving the EU and would end up "pathetically waiting for the scraps but no longer in control of the menu."
The conference closes Wednesday with a major keynote speech by Prime Minister Theresa May.
