Together we can create a better future
Jez holds talks with cross-party MPs backing Norway-plus model
UNDER a Norway Plus option, Britain would seek close links with the EU but stop short of full membership.
It would give us back sovereignty over food and fisheries, free us of FJORD FOCUS Norway EU courts’ supremacy – and could solve the Irish border question.
We would stay in the single market, with a reduced contribution, but be free to curb immigration in a crisis. NO SUCCESS Geoffrey Cox leaves No10 yesterday Jez held talks on deal option IN the past year, the richest 1,000 people in the UK have increased their wealth by £66billion, while the average household debt stands at a record £15,400.
This demands that we change the economy’s rules and claim a better future for the many, not the few. Another world really could be possible.
But we are stuck. I feel it, and I speak to people across our country who feel it too. We’re stuck in the mess the Government has made of
Brexit. It is dragging our communities down, whether they voted Leave or Remain, and driving deep division.
It’s time we raised our sights from this false divide and moved beyond it to deal with the real pressures facing people. More than a million elderly people are not getting the care they deserve. Pay has barely risen since the financial crisis and household debt is growing six times faster than wages. We are experiencing a surge of violent crime, with fatal stabbings at their highest levels since records began. Our schools are sending begging letters to parents and even closing early on Fridays because they can’t afford staff and supplies. Last month, thousands of schoolchildren demonstrating across our country and biblical scenes of wildfires on the hottest February day on record should have PROTEST Schoolchildren JEREMY Corbyn is working with Tory backbenchers to try to reach a soft Brexit deal that can win the support of Parliament.
The Labour leader held talks with a cross- party group backing a Norway-plus model – and said he felt “more certain” than ever a compromise could be struck.
Mr Corbyn hopes to secure a close economic relationship with the EU after we quit that would keep Leave and Remain voters alike happy.
But his interest in Norway- plus plans will raise fears MPs could force a softer deal, including a customs union, if they reject Theresa May’s deal again next week.
Writing for the Mirror, Mr Corbyn said: “I will continue to reach out to get a decent Brexit deal so our country can spend more time talking about our children’s future than a customs union.” It comes after Tory chief whip Julian Smith warned MPs could take control of the timetable if the PM is defeated.
MPs are then likely to vote to take no-deal off the table and delay our split. Labour sources said the party could then, in theory, back a crossparty amendment for a series of votes, paving the way for a vote guaranteeing a future relationship, with a customs union.
A Labour source said: “We’re trying to find a way through.”
The cross-party MPs – Tories Nick Boles and Oliver Letwin and Labour’s Lucy Powell and Stephen Kinnock – think their “Common Market” 2.0 plan could get enough support.
No10 admitted talks to find concessions had been “difficult”, as Att Gen Geoffrey Cox returned from Brussels yesterday empty-handed.
■ Jeremy Corbyn accused Dame Margaret Hodge of a “breach of trust” by recording a meeting on anti-Semitism without his consent. LABOUR SOURCE ON EFFORTS TO SECURE DEAL BLUEPRINT Cross-party team, from left, Letwin, Powell, Kinnock and Boles shamed us into radical action on climate change. Instead, the issue barely registers in Westminster.
Getting Brexit right is vital but it can’t block out everything else. That’s why I am holding meetings with business groups, unions and MPs across Parliament to try to deliver a majority in the Commons for a close economic relationship with the EU.
On Tuesday, I met the five biggest organisations that represent Britain’s businesses, large and small. They want what Labour wants, the uncertainty to end and a sensible deal to be struck.
Yesterday, I saw Labour and Conservative MPs to discuss a close economic relationship with the EU, which would protect jobs like those of the Honda workers in Swindon, some of whom I met. I left both meetings more certain than ever that we can find a way to force the Government to back a sensible Brexit plan that protects jobs.
Labour respects the result of the referendum and a close economic relationship is the best compromise for both 17 million Leave voters and 16 million Remain voters. But we cannot accept a damaging Tory Brexit or a no-deal outcome, so we also support a public vote in order to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit or a disastrous no-deal outcome.
We will do whatever we can to find a solution so, together, we can face the real challenges and seize the opportunities in this moment of great change.
We’re trying to find a way through, working with others