Prime Minister Theresa May said on Friday that she was confident that Britain could get a good deal in negotiations to leave the European Union, but would be prepared to walk away without an accord on departure terms if necessary.

"I've said that I think no deal would be better than a bad deal. Now I'm confident we can get a good deal with the right plan for those negotiations, because I think a good deal is in our interests and in the interests of the rest of the EU," May said in a question and answer session with voters on the BBC.

"But we have to be prepared to stand up for Britain. We have to be prepared to go in there, recognising that we're not willing to accept a bad deal."