Michael Gove has made bet with Matt Hancock over Halloween Brexit

Michael Gove has made a bet with Matt Hancock on whether the UK would leave the European Union by the end of October, it has been revealed.

In an interview with Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster reaffirmed the government’s intention to hit the October 31 deadline and said the date was “our determined policy”.

Asked if he’d place money on this outcome, he added: “Yes, I have.”

Pressed on how much, Mr Gove added: “Well that’s between me and the Health Secretary.”

Britain's Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock is seen outside Downing Street in London, Britain, October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
Mr Gove would not disclose how much money he had bet Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock. (Reuters)

Mr Gove declined to say whether fellow Cabinet member Matt Hancock thinks the Government will be unable to secure its stated objective of ‘getting Brexit done’ by the end of October.

The pair both ran for the leadership of their party earlier this year following the departure of Theresa May.

Asked if the Prime Minister should resign if the UK did not leave the EU by this date, he said: “We’re going to deliver by the 31st October.

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“We are going to ensure that we get this deal done and I’m confident that with the support of good people with whom we may have disagreed in the past, but who respect democracy we will get this deal done.”

Mr Gove claimed Saturday’s parliamentary defeat had increased the risk of a no-deal Brexit and he was “triggering” Operation Yellowhammer – the Government’s plan to deal with such a scenario.

He said: “The risk of leaving without a deal has actually increased because we cannot guarantee that the European Council will grant an extension.

“And that is why I will, later today, be chairing a Cabinet committee meeting, extraordinarily on a Sunday, in order to ensure that the next stage of our exit preparations and our preparedness for no-deal is accelerated.

“It means that we are triggering Operation Yellowhammer.

“It means that we are preparing to ensure that, if no extension is granted, we have done everything possible in order to prepare to leave without a deal.”

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he believed the Government could get its deal through Parliament.

With the Withdrawal Agreement Bill set to go to the Commons in the coming days, Mr Raab told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show: “We seem to have the numbers in the House of Commons.

“A lot of people say ‘Get this done and move on’.”

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