Only 7 days to keep Corbyn out of power, Theresa warns voters
THERESA May today warns voters they have just seven days to ensure the ‘promise of Brexit’ is not squandered by Jeremy Corbyn.
With just a week to go until polling day, the Prime Minister will offer an upbeat assessment of Brexit, saying it offers the opportunity to build a ‘brighter, fairer future for all’.
But she is also set to warn that the ‘great national mission’ will be derailed if she fails to win next week’s vote.
Speaking on the campaign trail yesterday, she said Mr Corbyn was ‘not ready’ to defend Britain’s interests in Brexit talks that are due to start just 11 days after the election.
In a speech in the North East today, she will say: ‘ The brighter future we want for our country will not just happen.
‘This great national moment needs a great national effort in which we pull together with a unity of purpose and – however we voted in the referendum last June – we come together with a determination to make a success of the years ahead.’
Mrs May’s appeal comes shortly after she warned that the Labour leader was not prepared for Brexit negotia- tions and would go ‘alone and naked’ into the Brexit talks.
Almost 12 months after the EU referendum, Mrs May will say the election gives voters an opportunity to ‘affirm’ their decision to quit the EU by vot- ing for her to continue as prime minister. ‘If they do, I am confident that we can fulfil the promise of Brexit together and build a Britain that is stronger, fairer and even more prosperous than it is today,’ she will say. ‘Because the promise of Brexit is great – the opportunities before us enormous.’
Mrs May campaigned for Remain during last year’s referendum. But today she will stress she is now convinced that leaving the EU can lead to a revival in Britain’s fortunes.
‘Set free from the shackles of EU control, we will be a great, global trading nation once again bringing new jobs and new opportunities for ordinary working families here at home,’ she will say.
Mrs May, whose campaign has been buffeted by controversy about Tory plans for a shake-up of social care, is determined to focus on Brexit in the final days of the campaign.
Today, she will urge people to ‘have faith in me’, adding: ‘This is the time to choose.’
In a bid to shore up backing from Brexit supporters across the political divide, she will underline pledges to deliver in the referendum in full by ending free movement, pulling Britain out of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and ending the payment of ‘huge sums’ to Brussels.
Mr Corbyn has struggled to devise a coherent strategy on Brexit and has undermined his position by insisting Labour would never walk away from the EU without a deal.
The Labour leader will attempt to clarify his position again with a speech in Essex today.