Is a no-deal Brexit underpriced?

As the Brexit talks enter what is expected to be the last full week of substantive negotiations, opposition leaders are blasting the government for the lack of progress while No. 10 has issued a warning that no deal is ‘arguably underpriced’. So, is this more fighting talk for the purpose of the negotiations or is no deal now a likely prospect?

Given that Boris Johnson agreed a deal at the last minute in the first stage of Brexit talks on the withdrawal agreement, the working assumption among many Tory MPs for some time has been that the same will occur this time around. Some of Johnson’s colleagues even point to the recent departure of Vote Leave veterans Dominic Cummings, Lee Cain and, most recently, Cleo Watson from Downing Street as a further sign Johnson plans to do a deal. They ask whether the team Johnson currently has around him is the one he would pick if he was really planning on leaving on WTO terms.