Iran Press/Europe: The Former work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd said that the government was having no 'formal negotiations' with the EU about a new deal, only 'conversations'.
"Instead, 80-90% of Brexit work was spent preparing for an 'inferior' no-deal option," she added.
However, Chancellor Sajid Javid said ministers were 'straining every sinew' to get a deal with the EU, BBC reported.
Boris Johnson’s government was in danger of imploding on Saturday night as the work and pensions secretary, Amber Rudd, quit the cabinet and resigned the Conservative whip, saying she could not stand by while 'loyal, moderate MPs' were purged from the party.
In a devastating resignation letter, she accused the prime minister of 'an assault on decency and democracy' and 'an act of political vandalism' for sacking 21 of her Tory colleagues for backing a parliamentary bill to stop a no-deal Brexit.
Rudd told Johnson she had joined his cabinet 'in good faith accepting that no deal had to be on the table'. She added: "However, I no longer believe leaving with a deal is the government’s main objective."
Referring to Johnson’s decision to withdraw the whip from rebel MPs, she said: "This short-sighted culling of my colleagues has stripped the party of broad-minded and dedicated Conservative MPs. I cannot support this act of political vandalism."
Rudd’s decision follows the resignation from the cabinet of Johnson’s own brother, Jo Johnson, on Thursday and will place intense pressure on other cabinet members who are also against a no-deal Brexit, including Nicky Morgan, to follow suit.
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