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Sunak says Brexit treaty breach bill is insurance policy

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak visits Emma Bridgewater pottery in Stoke-on-Trent

LONDON (Reuters) - Finance minister Rishi Sunak said Britain wants to strike a trade deal with the European Union but it is a tough negotiation and it is responsible to have a bill that breaches the Brexit treaty as an insurance policy.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has published a bill that he says is needed to counter "absurd" threats from Brussels as part of the trade talks. The EU has said the bill could collapse trade talks.

"We want to get a deal, that is government's clear aim... but its a tough negotiation .. And I think it's responsible for us to take out an insurance policy," the BBC quoted Sunak as saying in an interview.

(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Chris Reese)