The Tory rebels who are courting disaster

IF Theresa May had come up with such a half- baked, delusional wishlist and seriously presented it as her party’s Brexit negotiating position, the BBC and the Brussels commissariat would have ridiculed her as a fantasist.

But because it was Jeremy Corbyn – and he was supporting Remainers who want to sabotage the referendum result – they treated his words as if they had been handed down on tablets of stone.

It was supposed to be the speech that explained how Labour would lead Britain softly out of the EU, while retaining all the benefits of membership. In fact, it was a litany of false claims and contradictions.

Mr Corbyn insisted Britain could stay inside a customs union... but still be able to negotiate ‘ new trade deals in our national interest’.

He said we could continue to have full, tariff-free access to the single market... but not be bound by competition rules which would veto his plans to renationalise key industries.

He pledged to end free movement... but made it patently obvious he has no desire at all to reduce migrant numbers.

Of course, Brussels would never let Britain remain in the customs union

and negotiate new trade deals. Nor would they countenance us staying within the single market, without allowing free movement.

And Mr Corbyn knows that. A lifelong Eurosceptic, he’s not genuinely interested in engineering a ‘soft’ Brexit. He’s playing a much bigger and more cynical game.

By courting the Remain camp, he hopes rebel Tories will join Labour in scuppering Government plans to take Britain out of the customs union. If they succeed, he hopes Mrs May would be so destabilised she would have to call a general election – one which he believes he can win.

Even the most committed Tory Remainers must realise what’s at stake here. If they vote with Labour on the forthcoming Trade Bill, they risk opening the door to a Corbynled, hard-Left government which would destroy our economic recovery at a stroke and drown us in a sea of debt.

Mr Corbyn has shown he’s prepared to sacrifice his principles and betray the wishes of millions of Labour voters in pursuit of power. Any Tory who helps him will never be forgiven – by their party or by their country.