The Danish finance minister has echoed warnings that there is a 50% chance of the UK crashing out of the European Union without a deal.

Kristian Jensen said time is running out to strike a deal that is positive for both Britain and the EU, after Latvia’s foreign minister claimed the chance of a no-deal Brexit is “50-50”.

Earlier this week, Edgars Rinkevics said there was a “very considerable risk” of a no-deal scenario but stressed he remained optimistic an agreement with Britain on its withdrawal from the European Union could be reached.

Mr Jensen, appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, was asked about Mr Rinkevics’ remarks.

He said: “I also believe that 50-50 is a very good assessment because time is running out and we need to move really fast if we’ve got to strike a deal that is positive both for the UK and EU.

“Every forces who wants there to be a good deal needs to put in some effort in the months to come otherwise I’m afraid that time will run out.”

He went on to describe Theresa May’s Chequers plan as a “realistic proposal for good negotiations”.

“We need to go into a lot of details but I think it’s a very positive step forward and a necessary step,” he told the programme.

Mr Jensen refused to say whether new Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt would be easier to work with than Boris Johnson, but said: “I do believe that we had a good co-operation with Boris and I’m sure that we will have good co-operation with Jeremy.”