YET more splits emerged in the Tory Cabinet yesterday over the prospect of walking away from the Brexit negotiations without a deal.

In a statement, Brexit Minister David Davis told MPs the UK must “prepare for all the other alternatives” to getting a deal.

And then, not more than an hour later, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said leaving without a deal was “unthinkable”.

Davis was in the House of Commons, updating MPs on last week’s fifth round of Brexit talks in Brussels. He insisted the EU side was only refusing to start trade talks because it wanted to squeeze more money out of the UK towards the divorce bill.

“It is absolutely in everyone’s interests that we have an outcome which encourages free trade in all directions across the European Union and ourselves,” Davis said.

“The simple truth is, of course, we’re in a negotiation, and they’re using time pressure to see if they can get more money out of us. Bluntly, that’s what’s going on – it’s obvious to anybody, but we will get there in time, I’m quite sure, to get a decent outcome for everybody.”

SNP Europe spokesman Peter Grant said Davis needed to rule out the prospect of quitting the EU with no future trade deal arranged. “The Prime Minister still hasn’t withdrawn her claim that no deal is better than a bad deal,” Grant said. He then asked Davis to “rule out ‘no deal’ absolutely as the worst of all possible deals”.

Davis replied: “We are intending, we are setting out, we are straining every sinew to get a deal. That will be the best outcome.

“But for two reasons, we need to prepare for all the other alternatives. One, because it’s a negotiation with many people and could go wrong, and so we have to be ready for that.

“Secondly, because in a negotiation you always have to have the right to walk away – if you don’t, you get a terrible deal.”

Davis also hinted that there could be some progress in the trade talks soon, and possibly even as soon as the end of the week, when the 27 leaders of the remaining EU countries meet in Brussels.

“Let’s just see what the European Council comes up with on Friday, shall we?” he told MPs. Rudd, who was appearing in front of the Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee, was asked by Labour MP Yvette Cooper if she thought Britain would be “as safe and secure” as it is now after Brexit with no deal in place.

The Home Secretary replied: “I think it is unthinkable that there would be no deal.

“It is so much in their interests as well as ours – in their communities’, families’, tourists’ interests to have something in place. We will make sure there is something between them and us to maintain our security.”

Last week saw brutal Cabinet splits over how much the UK should be preparing for the possibility of a no-deal departure. Chancellor Phillip Hammond told MPs he was unwilling to spend money on the massive infrastructure that would require until the last possible minute, but was later slapped down by the Prime Minister.

Rudd, who, like Hammond, campaigned for a Remain vote, also told the committee that the registration of the three million EU citizens living in the UK will begin next year. The Home Office’s “default position” will be to accept all applications, said Rudd who also promised a simpler version than the current 80-page process.

She denied that there had been a high error rate in Home Office decisions on EU nationals’ applications for permanent residence but said she accepted that there had been mistakes in individual cases for which apologies had been made.