CORB’S BREXIT DEFIB
Labour leader promises to breathe life into EU deal that will let UK thrive Barnstorming speech calls out Tories for lying about £350m for the NHS
LABOUR are ready to deliver a Brexit deal that will allow the “country to thrive”, Jeremy Corbyn said yesterday.
Energised by polls that show him closing the gap on Theresa May, the Labour leader tackled head-on the one issue the Tories still see as their ace card – who is the best person to lead Britain in Brexit negotiations?
In a barnstorming pitch to voters, Corbyn delivered a more confident vision of Brexit under Labour than he had before.
And he had a pop at Tory Brexiteers over the Leave campaign’s lie that £350million a week extra would be spent on the NHS.
In a strong attack on May, he said the Prime Minister’s “reckless approach” to negotiations had already left Britain isolated.
Corbyn said her “no deal is better than a bad deal” stance would leave the UK emptyhanded and prove to be an “economic disaster”.
He added that the Tories are “weak and wobbly” – and said they cannot be believed after the PM’s U-turn on the “dementia tax” and her failure to set out how many pensioners stand to lose their winter fuel payments.
Corbyn told voters: “The choice is who you trust to fight for your future. A weak and wobbly Tory party, who can’t even stick to their own manifesto commitments for a week and who always put the wealthy and big business first?
“Or a Labour team with clear principles, proven confidence and who will put jobs and living standards and our common interests first?”
Referring to Brexit negotiations, which will start 10 days after the election, he added: “Theresa May says no deal is better than a bad deal.
“Let’s be clear – no deal is in fact a bad deal. It is the worst of all deals, because it would leave us with World Trade Organisation tariffs and restrictions instead of the access to European markets we need.
“That would mean slapping tariffs on the goods we export – an extra 10 per cent on cars – with the risk that key manufacturers would leave for the European mainland, taking skilled jobs with them.”
Corbyn said he was proud of Labour’s Brexit team – Keir Starmer, Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry and Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner.
Contrasting them with May’s Brexit team, he said: “They are experienced, sensible people.
“We know the three Tories in whose hands Theresa May has placed our national future – David Davis, Boris Johnson and Liam Fox.
“Now you know I don’t do personal attacks, so let me just say that in Labour’s Brexit team, there is no one who has fibbed to the British people about spending an extra £350million a week on the NHS because of Brexit, and
May says no deal is better than a bad deal. But no deal is the worst of all deals JEREMY CORBYN
nobody who has promised to use Brexit to slash workers’ rights or slash tax for big corporations in a continental race to the bottom.”
Today, Corbyn is set to reveal plans for how at least a million jobs will be created under a Labour government, rebuilding communities who have been left behind.
The Labour leader will promise a National Transformation Fund, National Investment Bank and network of regional development banks that will drive investment in infrastructure and the green and cutting-edge industries of the future.
Corbyn said: “When Labour talks about job creation, we mean decent jobs – jobs which pay a real living wage, which people can get by on, and which give people a sense of pride and purpose.
“Labour will invest to drive growth across the whole of Britain, creating wealth which is shared across our country, rather than concentrated in the hands of the few.
“Labour will ensure people are not held back. We will build an economy where everyone shares in the creation of wealth as well as its distribution.
“Under the Conservatives, the richest have got richer, while most people’s incomes have fallen or stagnated.
“Labour’s plans will make sure everyone shares in our country’s wealth.”
As one poll yesterday showed the Tories’ nationwide lead over Labour has shrunk to just three points, Nicola Sturgeon said voters in Scotland could play a decisive role in determining May’s fate.
Urging voters to make sure that no Conservatives were elected north of the Border, the First Minister said: “As the polls narrow across the rest of the UK, whether or not the Tories can increase their majority could come down to the outcome in Scotland.
“So while they may still be on track to win the election in the rest of the UK, Scotland now has the opportunity to hold the Tories firmly in check.”
The You-Gov poll put the Tories on 42 per cent, with Labour on 39 per cent. The latest Scottish poll, conducted by Ipsos Mori, puts the SNP on 43 per cent, with the Tories and Labour level on 25 per cent.
Sturgeon added: “The Tories have been completely exposed in this election campaign, with a weak and evasive Prime Minister who is unable to answer basic questions on the impact her policies will have on people across the country
“From the dementia tax to the removal of the winter fuel allowance, cuts to public services and social security and the consequences for jobs of an extreme Brexit, the Tories have been found completely wanting.”