Race to succeed May centres on ‘no deal’ Brexit battle

The prospect of a “no deal” Brexit was fast becoming the central battle of the race to succeed Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday, as environment minister Michael Gove became the latest candidate to declare. May said on Friday she was quitting over her failure to deliver Brexit, potentially opening the way for a new leader who could seek a more divisive split with the European Union and lead to confrontation with the bloc or a possible parliamentary election. Setting out their pitch to the Conservative Party’s largely pro-Brexit membership who will decide the outcome of the contest, four of the leadership hopefuls have said Britain must leave the EU on October 31 even if this means a no-deal Brexit. “I will fight for a fairer deal in Brussels ... if not I will be clear we will leave on WTO terms in October,” former Brexit minister Dominic Raab told BBC TV.