National Post

Johnson, Corbyn wage Brexit battle in final debate

Britain heads to polls in Dec. 12 election

- Elizabeth Pipe r Kylie Maclellan and

MAIDSTONE, Englan d/ LONDON • Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn clashed over Brexit on Friday in the last televised debate before next week’s election that will determine the path for Britain’s departure from the European Union.

Six days before Britain votes in its second national election in less than three years, the debate was seen as the last chance for Corbyn to squeeze Johnson’s lead in the polls, which mostly point to victory for the prime minister.

A snap poll by Yougov found 52 per cent of viewers thought Johnson had won the debate.

The two leaders set a combative tone over how to leave the EU and in their very different offers for domestic policy — “socialism carried out in a democratic way” from Corbyn, or “one-nation Conservati­sm” that will not “rack up debts” from Johnson.

More than three years after Britain voted to leave the EU, the Dec. 12 election will determine when, how and even whether Brexit happens.

Johnson ridiculed Corbyn’s support for a new referendum in which Corbyn has said he would remain neutral, while the Labour leader said the prime minister’s pledge to “get Brexit done” actually meant years of trade talks.

“We have ample time to get on and build a new free trade partnershi­p, not just with the EU but with countries around the world,” Johnson said in the BBC television debate.

But Corbyn countered that it would take the government seven years to negotiate a trade deal with the United States and said business could not live with the uncertaint­y that Britain might still leave the EU without a deal next year.

Polls show Johnson’s governing party is well ahead of Labour. A Panelbase survey on Friday showed the Conservati­ves extending their lead slightly over the opposition party to nine points, up from eight a week ago.

Johnson, who renegotiat­ed a new divorce deal with the EU in October, has promised to “get Brexit done,” a slogan he has repeated constantly during campaignin­g to try to win over Labour supporters who backed leaving the bloc, and those who are simply fed up of the political haggling over the issue.

Britons voted by 52 per cent to 48 per cent in 2016 for Brexit but parliament has been stuck in deadlock over the way forward. If Johnson wins the majority he says he needs, Britain will leave by Jan. 31 and then seek to secure a trade deal with the bloc by the end of 2020.

Keen to land a blow, Corbyn doubled down on an earlier attack on Johnson, calling his Brexit promises a fraud and saying his deal would simply be the start of years of “painful negotiatio­ns and broken promises.”

The Labour leader waved at him documents he had unveiled earlier in the day, which he said showed the divorce deal would lead to customs declaratio­ns and security checks between Britain and Northern Ireland, a direct contradict­ion of Johnson’s statements that it would not create any barriers.

 ?? Jeff Overs / BBC Picture Publicity via Gett y Imag es ?? Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the Conservati­ve Party clashed over Brexit in the final televised debate Friday in Maidstone, Kent, England, ahead of the country’s general election next Thursday.
Jeff Overs / BBC Picture Publicity via Gett y Imag es Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the Conservati­ve Party clashed over Brexit in the final televised debate Friday in Maidstone, Kent, England, ahead of the country’s general election next Thursday.

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