U.K. Business Secretary Greg Clark arriving in Downing Street in May 2018 | Chris J Ratcliffe via Getty Images No-deal Brexit ‘ruinous,’ says UK business secretary Warnings from carmakers should be ‘listened to and acted on,’ Greg Clark told MPs.

LONDON — A no-deal Brexit would be “ruinous” for the U.K. economy, Business Secretary Greg Clark told MPs.

In one of the strongest warnings yet from a Cabinet minister about the risks leaving the EU without an agreement, Clark indicated that he fully endorses warnings from Nissan and other carmakers about the disruption to trade that could result.

His comments place him at odds with Prime Minister Theresa May who, while seeking MPs’ approval for her Brexit deal, has refused to take no-deal off the table or withdraw her repeated insistence that “no deal is better than a bad deal.”

Speaking in the House of Commons following Nissan’s reversal of plans to build its new X-Trail model in the U.K., Clark said the firm had warned that the risk of a no-deal Brexit is causing “damaging uncertainty.”

“No deal is fully acknowledged, certainly by me and the industry as being ruinous for our prospects," he said. "… in order to avoid no deal we need to come to an agreement in this House."

He urged MPs to get behind May’s deal to prevent the U.K. leaving without an agreement, saying that while the carmaker's decision was made “on broader business grounds,” it had urged MPs to “come together and to resolve the question of our future trading relationship with the EU.”

“I believe their advice should be listened to and acted on,” he added.

Labour MP Chris Bryant said that Cabinet ministers are “the only people” who could stop no-deal.

“They’ve got to go back to the Cabinet and say to the prime minister: 'We will not put up with this, this will do lasting damage to our country … and we must put a stop to it, otherwise we will resign.'”

Clark responded that it is a “matter of public record” that he has called for a close trading relationship to protect jobs and that it is “important that I should do that.”

In an interview with the Times last week, Clark said that businesses consider a no-deal Brexit “a disaster,” but asked whether he would resign to try to stop it said: “I will not desert my post while I can influence what I see as the requirement for a responsible government to make sure we achieve a deal.”

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