UK PM candidate Dominic Raab fails to rule out suspending parliament

Conservative leadership candidate Dominic Raab has insisted he will not rule out the option of suspending parliament in order to stop MPs from blocking a no-deal Brexit.

However he said he thought it unlikely, as parliamentary rules would make it harder for lawmakers to continue to oppose a no-deal Brexit as they had under Prime Minister Theresa May, who formally resigned as Conservative Party leader on Friday.

Raab said that a commitment to meeting the Halloween deadline and readiness to leave without a deal under World Trade Organisation rules if necessary was a “test of nerve” for the contenders to replace Theresa May as prime minister.

Rivals including Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove have said they would be ready to ask for a further extension of talks in order to secure a deal with Brussels.

In an apparent swipe at frontrunner Boris Johnson, who has so far kept a low profile in the leadership race, Raab said that all candidates should set out their Brexit positions clearly and subject themselves to intensive scrutiny in interviews.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Raab said it was “very unlikely” that prorogation would be needed.

But he added: “It is wrong to rule out any tool to make sure that we leave by the end of October.

“I think anybody who is talking about delay or is taking WTO off the table is having a perverse effect of weakening our negotiating position in Brussels.”

Raab said that any suggestion the UK would countenance a delay in order to avoid no-deal would lead to Brussels officials thinking “We have a chance to lure them into the cage of a customs union or a more restrictive legislative high-alignment model”.

“If we started suggesting we are not really sure we will be leaving at the end of October, we send them the message that they don’t need to focus their minds, we are not really serious,” he said.

“That’s a strategic mistake and I don’t think any of the candidates should fall into that trap.”

The former Brexit secretary said he would go back to Brussels with a "best, final offer" but if that did not work he would leave without a deal.