The United Kingdom wants a Brexit deal but has the mettle to leave the European Union without a deal if necessary, deputy finance minister Rishi Sunak said on Thursday.

“We must have the firmness to leave if necessary without a deal,” Chief Secretary to the Treasury Sunak said.

“What the prime minister has said is: we remain very open to wanting to have a deal with our European friends and allies, we stand ready to discuss it when they realise that the current deal cannot pass parliament.”

“We need to remove the undemocratic backstop and that’s the outcome we would like to see. And we very much they come and engage with us with a spirit of cooperation,” he said.

He said there would be more detail on the UK government’s spending plans at a spending review and fiscal event later in the autumn.