The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
May and Corbyn to make
Prime minister and Labour leader to battle for support of industry chiefs when they address CBI annual conference
Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn will battle it out to woo business leaders today with rival speeches at the CBI annual conference.
The prime minister and opposition leader will both pitch for industry backing for their opposing Brexit visions at a critical time and after a chaotic week in UK politics.
With less than a week to go before an emergency EU Council summit, Mrs May is due to say she can come back from the November 25 meeting of national leaders with a deal she can put before MPs.
She is due to tell the CBI event at the InterContinental London hotel at the O2 in Greenwich: “We now have an intense week of negotiations ahead of us in the run-up to the special European Council on Sunday.
“During that time I expect us to hammer out the full and final details of the framework that will underpin our future relationship and I am confident that we can strike a deal at the council that I can take back to the House of Commons.
“The core elements already in place.”
Mrs May could find reassurance in the cautious backing her withdrawal agreement has already received from the CBI, which has long called for stability and warned of the impact of a no-deal Brexit.
Last week, director general Carolyn Fairbairn said: “More clarity on the final relationship is needed and uncertainty remains high, but this is an important step forward.”
But after the turbulence in Westminster, she hit out at politicians yesterday, telling Sky’s Ridge On Sunday that businesses had “watched on with a degree of horror that there is just so little sense of consensus” in Westminster in the last week.
Mr Corbyn is expected to tell delegates the prime minister’s plan is “a botched, worst-of-all-worlds deal”.
He is due to say: “Labour has an alternative plan for a sensible, jobs-first deal that could win support in of that deal are parliament and help bring our country together.
“We want a new comprehensive and permanent customs union, with a British say in future trade deals.
“That would ensure no hard border in Northern Ireland and avoid the need for the government’s half-baked backstop deal.
“Businesses and workers need certainty. The Tories’ sticking plaster plan for a temporary customs arrangement, with no clarity on how long it will last and no British say, can only prolong the uncertainty and put jobs and prosperity at risk.”
Mrs May is also due to tell delegates a level playing field on immigration after Brexit will help young Britons.
She is expected to say: “It will no longer be the case that EU nationals, regardless of the skills or experience they have to offer, can jump the queue ahead of engineers from Sydney or software developers from Delhi.
“Instead of a system based on where a person is from, we will have one that is built around the talents and skills a person has to offer.
“Not only will this deliver on the verdict of the referendum, it should lead to greater opportunity for young people in this country to access training and skilled employment.”
More clarity on the final relationship is needed and uncertainty remains high, but this is an important step forward.
CAROLYN FAIRBAIRN, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE CBI