UK Foreign Secretary: No-Deal Brexit Will be Geo-Strategic Mistake for Europe

The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, with the negotiations between the two parties expected to last until March 29, 2019.

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that a no-deal Brexit is not an option, adding that he was cautiously optimistic that the UK will get a Brexit deal.

Hunt was recently appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs after Boris Johnson resigned from his cabinet post over disagreements with UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit strategy and post-Brexit vision for the UK.

READ MORE: UK Trade Secretary: No-Deal Brexit Better Than Extension of Talks

Last month, the International Monetary Fund released research confirming that the UK would be hit significantly harder than the EU by a no-deal Brexit, adding further pressure on British negotiators to secure an advantageous post-Brexit trade deal.

On July 12, the UK government published the "white paper" on the United Kingdom's post-Brexit relations with the EU, which calls for developing "a broad and deep" economic relations with the bloc and avoiding a hard border in Ireland, among other issues.

The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in a referendum in 2016. The Brexit negotiations officially started in June 2017 and are expected to be completed by the end of March 2019.