Jeremy Hunt, the new foreign secretary, called for the EU to show more flexibility

The British public would blame Europe for a chaotic no-deal Brexit and it would damage relations with the country’s nearest neighbours for a generation, Jeremy Hunt has said.

In a stark message on his first trip abroad since being appointed foreign secretary, Mr Hunt used a visit to Berlin to plead for Brussels to show more flexibility in negotiations. He said that the only person to benefit from the collapse of talks would be President Putin.

“Without a real change in approach from the EU negotiators, we do now face a real risk of ‘no deal’ by accident,” Mr Hunt said.

“That would be incredibly challenging economically. Britain would find that challenging but in the end we would find a way not just to survive