PM blames Corbyn for delay to EU exit
PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has blamed the failure to deliver on his “do or die” promise to quit the EU on October 31 on Jeremy Corbyn.
Despite the pledge that he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than seek a Brexit delay beyond Halloween, the PM tried to suggest it was the Labour leader’s fault the UK’s withdrawal from the EU had been put back until January 31.
Ahead of visits to a school, hospital and police unit today, Mr Johnson said: “Today should have been the day that Brexit was delivered and we finally left the EU.
“But, despite the great new deal I agreed with the EU, Jeremy Corbyn refused to allow that to happen — insisting upon more dither, more delay and more uncertainty for families and business.
“We cannot continue along this path. I didn’t want an election — like the country, I wanted to get Brexit done, but it is the only way forward.”
As the general election campaign cranked into gear, the PM added: “The public wants and expects the Government to give them hope and to improve their opportunities.
“This is exactly what my Government has been doing for the past 99 days and exactly what my Government will continue to do if the public choose the Conservatives in this election.
“I want next year to be a great year for our country — with more investment in front line NHS services, the recruitment of thousands more police officers to reduce violent crime and investment in every one of our primary and secondary schools across the country.
“The alternative is for the people of this country to spend the next year, which should be a glorious year, going through the toxic, tedious torpor of two more referendums — on EU membership and Scottish independence — thanks to Jeremy Corbyn’s incessant indecision.
“Now is the time to break the deadlock so we can move on as a country. The Conservatives will campaign for a Parliament that gets Brexit done and delivers on the people’s priorities, including the NHS, education and crime.”
Mr Corbyn, meanwhile, will today attack what he brands a “corrupt system” in Britain as he launches Labour’s general election campaign.
In his first major stump speech of the countdown to the election poll on December 12, Mr Corbyn will hit out at the “tax dodgers, bad bosses, big polluters, and billionaire-owned media holding our country back”.
Mr Corbyn will use the speech in London to “call out” people like the media baron Rupert Murdoch, and the Duke of Westminster.
He will say that “the elite” are scared of the British people, which is why “they’ll throw everything” at Labour in the upcoming election.
Mr Corbyn will say: “Boris Johnson’s born-to-rule Conservatives protect the privileged few. They’ve slashed taxes for the richest and vital services and support for everyone else. “But real change is coming. “This election is a once-in-a-generation chance to transform our country, take on the vested interests holding people back and ensure that no community is left behind.”
Yesterday Mr Corbyn accused Mr Johnson of throwing Northern Ireland “under a bus”, as the Prime Minister urged MPs to push through key Brexit legislation. He clashed with the PM over post-Brexit workers’ rights, environmental standards and the future of the NHS, during exchanges dominated by Brexit.
He also claimed Mr Johnson was “delaying his own Withdrawal Bill”, a charge rejected by the PM, who in turn alleged Mr Corbyn and his front bench are a “threat” to the UK and want 2020 to include referendums on the EU and Scotland.
Prime Minister’s Questions took place after the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill cleared its first parliamentary hurdle, before MPs rejected Government plans to fast-track it through the Commons to meet the October 31 Brexit deadline.