Fairy tale of North Yorks
Hopeless May breaks cover in Yorkshire to reboot her faltering election campaign with 12-point plan for Brexit .. but it dozen add up
DESPERATE Theresa May travelled to North Yorkshire yesterday in a bid to revive her flagging election campaign.
But her 12-point plan for a “brighter future” under a Tory Brexit read more like a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.
Almost every one of the dozen bullet points were derided as vague or untrue by opponents.
And nine of the points would be best achieved by Britain cancelling Brexit and staying in the EU.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said May’s approach “risks a jobs meltdown across Britain”.
He added: “The Conservatives want a mandate for their Brexit plan – a plan that puts jobs and living standards at risk and threatens to turn our country into a low-wage offshore tax haven.
“Instead, Labour will negotiate a tariff-free deal with the EU which will benefit both sides.
“We will transform our economy for a post-Brexit Britain through a new industrial strategy that will use powers returned from Brussels and will rewrite the rules of our economy, so it serves the interests of the many rather than the few.”
May continued her negative attacks on Corbyn as a You Gov poll showed the Labour leader closing the gap to just three points, with the Tories on 42 per cent – down one since the end of last week – and Labour up three on 39 per cent.
With her team rattled by a mis-firing campaign, May tried to switch focus away from her absence in a TV leaders debate and on to her core election issue of who would negotiate Britain’s Brexit.
Her 12-point plan was designed to reassure voters that support for the Tories would ensure a new beginning for Britain.
Speaking at a digger plant in Guisborough, in the Labour-held seat of Middlesbrough South, May said: “As we come together behind this great national mission – to make a success of Brexit and of the opportunities it brings – we will build a more united country as our shared values, interests and aspirations bring us together.
“This is the prize, the opportunity that is within reach, a stronger, more secure and prosperous nation, a brighter, fairer future for all.”
Blasting Corbyn’s performance in Wednesday’s seven-way TV debate, which she was too frightened to attend, she claimed he would be concentrating on striking a power-sharing deal with opposition parties to enter No10.
But as Corbyn gained plaudits for his public performances, the Prime Minister’s robotic answers to a journalist in Plymouth were mocked.
It was another setback for May as she tried to persuade voters she was the best person to negotiate for Britain.