May claims Corbyn does not have a ‘clue’

THERESA May has accused Jeremy Corbyn of “not having a clue” over Brexit as she faced pressure to reveal if Britain would pay for access to the European single market.

The Prime Minister refused to be drawn on whether payments would be required after the UK withdrew from the Brussels bloc, despite the Labour leader repeatedly raising the issue.

She also clashed with Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, who accused her of steering the UK into a “Little Britain Brexit” that would hit jobs and pay.

At PMQs, Mr Corbyn said Mrs May was “demeaning” her office and her country by threatening to make the UK a “bargain basement Britain, a low-pay tax haven on the shores of Europe”, if she could not get the Brexit deal she wanted from the EU.

He said: “It wouldn’t necessarily damage the EU, but it would certainly damage this country; businesses, jobs and public services. She demeans herself and her office and our country’s standing by making these kinds of threats.”

The Prime Minister hit back, saying: “Access to the single market is exactly what I was talking about yesterday in my speech. One of the key principles, the key objectives, is that we negotiate a free trade agreement with the EU that gives us the widest possible access for trading with and operating within the EU.”

Mr Corbyn accused Mrs May of talking of restoring parliamentary democracy while “sidelining Parliament” by making her keynote speech on Brexit, not to MPs, but to diplomats and journalists.

To groans from the Conservative benches, the Labour leader quipped: “It’s not so much the Iron Lady as the Irony Lady.”

The PM, insisting her plan was to create a “global Britain,” that brought jobs and prosperity to the country, said people had learnedmore about Mr Corbyn’s thinking on Brexit, explaining: “What he said was the following: ‘She has said leave the single market, then at the same time says she wants to have access to the single market. I’m not quite sure how that’s going to go down in Europe. We have to have a deal that ensures we have access to the market.’”

To Tory cheers, Mrs May added: “I’ve got a plan, he does not have a clue.”