EU memo raises questions over Corbyn’s Brexit policy
JEREMY CORBYN told Michel Barnier he was open to keeping Britain in the customs union after Brexit, a memo circulated to European nations suggests.
The Labour leader met Mr Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, in London on Monday, where Mr Corbyn promised to run the Brexit talks “very differently” if he came to power and proposed a series of possible concessions to the EU.
According to a memo of the meeting, drawn up after a debrief between Mr Barnier and ambassadors from the other 27 EU nations, Mr Corbyn said that he was open to a discussion about the continuing influence of the European Court of Justice on the UK should he become prime minister.
The document, seen by The Daily Telegraph, also states that Mr Corbyn said he could offer a “unilateral guarantee” on the rights of EU citizens during transition.
EU diplomats believe he was seeking to undermine Theresa May in Brexit negotiations. One source jokingly likened it to “asking for a coup d’état”.
Mr Corbyn’s offer to Mr Barnier, as detailed in the memo, contrasts with official Labour policy on Brexit, which is to leave the customs union.
Last night Labour denied the contents of the memo, saying: “Jeremy did not say he was open to staying in the customs union. He said that a customs union was a viable end point.
“We have been clear all the way through that you can’t be in the customs union if you are not in the EU.
“As for the suggestion that we are trying to undermine the Government, it’s true that we would negotiate a better deal but it is certainly not the case that we are trying to undermine the negotiations.”
It came as the Cabinet’s Brexit “war committee” broke up after a second day of discussions without any agreement on what sort of departure from the EU the Government wants.
Amid growing concerns that Brexit could be delayed by the Cabinet’s paralysis, Mrs May is planning an “away day” with the 10 other ministers who make up the subcommittee to try to resolve their differences.
However, sources said “substantial” disagreements remained between Brexiteers in the group, including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, and Remainers led by Philip Hammond and Amber Rudd. The group is expected to meet at Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country retreat, the week after next.
Sources close to the Brexit negotiations in Brussels suggested the transition period would have to be extended because Mrs May’s Cabinet was so far away from reaching an agreement that Britain would not be ready to implement Brexit in full by the end of December 2020.
Mrs May used a speech at the Conservative Party’s black and white fundraising ball on Wednesday night to accuse Mr Corbyn of “exploiting populist politics”.
She said the Opposition leader’s policies would only lead to “massive renationalisation, capital flight, a run on the pound – that all leads to a bankrupt Britain”.
She promised to “fight and win the battle of ideas and to defeat socialism today as we have defeated it before”.
Last month Mr Corbyn set out his Brexit policy on the BBC’S Andrew Marr Show, when he said Labour wanted “a form of customs union” with the EU but added: “Obviously whether it would be the customs union, answer no, because it would require being a member of the EU, which we’re not.”
But a note of Mr Barnier’s report to EU ambassadors seen by The Telegraph refers to Mr Corbyn being “open” to the idea of staying in the existing customs union, a move that would put clear water between Labour and the Conservatives. Downing Street said this week that Britain would not stay in the customs union or any type of customs union.
Mr Corbyn also said that although Labour remained uncertain about single market membership, it would be much more accepting of oversight from the European Court of Justice than the Tories, opening the door to areas closed off by Mrs May’s “red lines” on the ECJ.
According to the memo, the Labour leader was also at pains to emphasise that the party’s positions would also make it far easier to reach a settlement over the Northern Irish border.
The EU side decided not to brief the British media on the meeting to avoid any appearance of meddling in domestic political affairs, but Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, posted a
picture of the group, who also included Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, on Twitter later that day.
“Good to have further discussions about the Brexit negotiations with chief EU negotiator, Michel Barnier, in London today,” Sir Keir wrote.
The two EU sources with knowledge of the meeting said that Mr Corbyn’s overtures were regarded as a transparent attempt to show that Brussels should welcome, not fear, a Corbyn administration. “It sounded like he more or less asked for a coup d’état,” joked one Western EU diplomat. “As if he was saying, ‘you guys just let May go and I’ll be your guy’.”
Asked if the EU ambassadors were tempted by the offer, the source said no comment was passed at their meeting with Mr Barnier, but ventured that there was widespread scepticism in EU circles that Mr Corbyn could win power on such a soft Brexit platform.
Mr Corbyn has previously met Mr Barnier in Brussels, presenting him with an Arsenal football shirt when they held talks last July.
Yesterday Mrs May met Japanese business leaders in Downing Street, after which Koji Tsuruoka, the Japanese ambassador to London, said manufacturing firms “expected” free access to the European market to continue.
He said Japan had told Brussels that “the continuation of healthy, sound trade relations between the UK and the EU” would benefit the EU, the UK and the whole global economy.
David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, and Mr Barnier will tomorrow give an update on the talks, but several sources have said there is a growing belief in Brussels that issues such as the Irish border and trade could not be solved in time for December 2020.
Two senior EU officials said British negotiators appeared to be sounding out other governments’ attitudes to an extension to the 21-month transition period currently on offer, although others said they believed Mrs May still aims to have a free trade deal negotiated to start in January 2021.