A crunch time for Labour and Brexit

JEREMY Corbyn has made it even more difficult for the Welsh Government to defend the deal struck with the UK Government over its flagship Brexit Bill.

For months, ministers from Cardiff and Edinburgh have trekked to Whitehall to press for changes to the EU Withdrawal Bill. Carwyn Jones and Nicola Sturgeon were adamant that powers in devolved areas such as agriculture that are today held by Brussels should not be transferred to Westminster after Brexit.

The UK Government agreed to amend the legislation and make a series of commitments. Opposition to its Brexit legislation is tough enough in the Lords – where peers defeat it on a regular basis – and in the Commons, without the Assembly and the Scottish Parliament refusing to grant consent in votes this week.

The Welsh Government argues that significant changes have been made but Mr Corbyn has made it harder for ministers to present the outcome of the negotiations as a victory. He said he was happy for Scottish Labour to vote to refuse consent and claimed there is “a power grab going on by Whitehall”.

This is a toxic phrase. First Minister Mr Jones had condemned the original legislation as a “naked power grab” and the changes agreed in the deal were supposed to ensure that there is no possibility of any grabbing going on at all.

The Welsh Government acknowledges the need for common rules in specific areas to ensure trade flows without interruption between the UK nations. It argues the deal means “nothing more, nothing less” than that a “small number of areas” where pan-UK rules are needed “will be frozen for a time limited period”.

We now have the surreal spectacle of Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood writing to Mr Corbyn urging him to support Welsh Labour voting with her party to refuse consent.

Plaid will doubtless seek to both rile and woo Labour AMs by quoting Mr Corbyn during the Assembly debate. It also argues that Welsh laws and policy proposals will be “unenforceable” as a result of the legislation.

The debacle raises questions about how engaged the UK Labour leadership has been during the tortuous negotiations. Was Mr Corbyn aware of the Welsh Government’s position when he made his remarks in Scotland?

Labour has sought to construct a carefully nuanced Brexit position, sensitive to the aspirations of proEU supporters but informed by the reality that legions of voters in its heartland areas, including in Wales, back Brexit; now, it’s time for clarity.

We have seen Pontypridd MP Owen Smith sacked from the Labour frontbench after he backed a second referendum, and former UK leader Neil Kinnock has warned Mr Corbyn of “a serious evasion of duty” if he does not back Britain staying in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Neither the Shadow Cabinet nor the UK Cabinet should be ignorant of the danger posed to Wales by a botched Brexit.