Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond leaves Downing Street in London, Britain, November 22, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

LONDON (Reuters) - Stopping Britain’s exit from the European Union would leave the country fractured even though this would be the best outcome for the economy, the finance minister Philip Hammond said.

“We’ve had a referendum, we’ve made a decision to leave the European union, so that is what we are going to do,” he told Sky News on Wednesday. “If we were to, in some way, renege on that decision we would leave our country fractured.”