EU PRESIDENT: I BACK CORBYN
..but Labour in turmoil as Jezza unveils Brexit plan
BRUSSELS bigwig Donald Tusk yesterday told Theresa May that Jeremy Corbyn’s new Brexit plan would be “a promising” way out of the deadlock.
The European Council president urged the Prime Minister to grasp an olive branch from Labour for a permanent customs union that could finally get her deal through.
But Corbyn’s proposal in a letter to May was met with howls of protest from his own MPs, with some threatening to quit.
Labour MPs, the majority of whom backed Remain, said his plan was a “betrayal” that would facilitate a Tory Brexit.
Many were furious the letter failed to mention the party’s fall-back policy of a second referendum.
Downing Street insiders suggested the PM had batted away Tusk’s advice, telling him the furious reaction to the letter showed Labour votes could not be relied on.
One source said: “It’s evident that over the course of the day the letter had caused a fairly lively debate in Corbyn’s party.”
Corbyn called for the Government to rework the political declaration with the EU to offer five commitments, including staying in a customs union, to help avoid the need for an Irish border backstop.
He also dropped one of Labour’s original tests, which demanded the exact same economic benefits outside the EU as within it.
A senior EU source said: “We can rework the political declaration if the red lines of the Government change. So Corbyn will need to convince May first to ask.”
But de facto deputy PM David Lidington suggested the customs union plan – which would breach the PM’s red line on an independent trade policy – was “wishful thinking”.
The Labour leader was praised for his “realism” by some Tory MPs trying to strike a cross-party consensus but his own party were bitterly divided. One, former leadership contender Owen Smith, revealed he and “lots of other people” were considering quitting the party.
Labour MP Chuka Umunna tweeted: “This is not opposition, it is the facilitation of a deal which will make this country poorer.”
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said Corbyn had shifted “from being the official opposition to the official facilitator for a Tory hard Brexit that will hit jobs”.
He added: “The attempt by the Labour leader to mask this as anything other than support for a Tory-driven, economy-wrecking Brexit deal is utterly disingenuous.”