A no-deal Brexit would be a "mutual calamity" for Britain and the European Union that would deliver a sharp blow to the British economy, British Finance Minister Philip Hammond says.
Hammond, addressing the annual dinner of Britain's largest manufacturing association, Make UK, added that lawmakers should stop seeking legal changes to the Northern Irish backstop that the EU would not accept at short notice.
"Our partners in the EU need to be at their pragmatic best in helping to avoid the mutual calamity of no deal, and (we) need to carry on explaining the implications of a no-deal exit, no matter who cries 'Project Fear'," Hammond said.
Brexit minister Stephen Barclay, meanwhile, said Britain would pursue alternative arrangements to the Irish backstop in its future trading relations with the EU.
The backstop has become the main point of contention in exit talks, which have reached an impasse with less than six weeks until Britain leaves the bloc.
The "Malthouse Compromise", which has been championed by Conservative lawmakers from the party's pro and anti-EU wings, seeks to use technology to replace the Irish backstop, an insurance policy designed to stop a return to a hard border between EU-member Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Barclay told the BBC that the proposals could replace the backstop further down the line in negotiations about Britain's future relations with the bloc.
"This is existing technology that we can deploy, it is part of the future relationship that we will have and it will avoid the need for the backstop by having that future economic partnership," he said.
May needs the support of her whole party to get a Brexit deal through parliament at the second time of asking. In January her exit deal was overwhelmingly rejected as both wings of her party voted against it.
However, the EU has made it clear that it will not reopen the Brexit withdrawal agreement, including the backstop.
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