UK Gov’t to Allocate Some $8Bln for Any Brexit Scenario – Exchequer Chancellor

LONDON (Sputnik) – The UK government will allocate 6.2 billion pounds ($7.9 billion) to prepare the country for any scenario of withdrawal from the European Union, UK Chancellor of Exchequer Philip Hammond said on Wednesday.

"A responsible government must prepare for all scenarios, which is why I have made more than £4.2bn available for EU exit planning since 2016. In the coming days, @hmtreasury will allocate a further £2bn of that money to government departments to bolster #Brexit preparations," Hammond posted on Twitter.

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Earlier this year, the Treasury said that it had planned to spend 3 billion pounds on preparing the country for Brexit and expressed readiness to raise the sum if needed.

Last month, UK Prime Minister Theresa May defended a draft Brexit deal in the UK Parliament's House of Commons. The agreement faced criticism both from the opposition and from the ruling party, with several members of May's Cabinet having resigned over the disagreement with the deal. While some lawmakers called for a new Brexit referendum, May rejected the idea and called on the parliament to approve the agreement in order to avoid "more division" and "more uncertainty."

The agreement was endorsed by the leaders of 27 EU member states and will be considered by the UK Parliament on 11th of December.