British Finance Minister Philip Hammond said a no-deal Brexit would leave the country poorer, repeating his warnings to potential successors of Prime Minister Theresa May, some of whom have advocated an abrupt departure from the European Union. "First of all, there will clearly be short-term disruption, which will have an unpredictable and potentially significant effect on our economy," Hammond told lawmakers in parliament on Tuesday (May 21).

"Probably more importantly, all the analysis that the government has done and published — and external commentators have done and published — show that there will be a longer-term effect, which means that our economy will be smaller than it otherwise would have been.

And I didn't come into politics in order to make our economy smaller." British factories suffered the biggest fall in orders this month since late 2016, gearing down from their rush to stockpile before the original Brexit deadline in March and boding badly for the economy in the second quarter, a survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) showed.

Overall, the survey suggested the boost to manufacturing from the push to stockpile was fading fast.

Hammond is due to give a speech to the CBI on Tuesday evening.

(Source: Reuters)