‘We won’t let PM May run down the clock’
Labour grandee also urges vote on Customs Union
THE British Labour party’s Brexit spokesman has said that Westminster will be forced to step in to prevent Theresa May from running down the clock before the Brexit date.
Keir Starmer said that the House of Commons will have to intervene with a ‘hard stop’ over concerns Mrs May will attempt to leave MPs with a choice of accepting her deal or crashing out of the European Union without any agreement.
Speaking in Dublin yesterday ahead of a series of meetings with unions, businesses and political leaders, Mr Starmer again called on Mrs May to have a vote on the Customs Union.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn last week offered Labour’s support for a Brexit deal provided five conditions were met, including that Britain would enter a customs union with the EU. Prime Minister Theresa May wrote to Mr Corbyn at the weekend that this demand for Britain to stay in the Customs Union would hamper free trade deals – but crucially stopped short of ruling it out.
Mrs May also said the Tories were ‘prepared to commit’ to new laws to protect British workers’ rights after Brexit – a key demand of Labour.
Referring to her letter to Mr Corbyn, Mr Starmer yesterday said the key question is whether Mrs May is prepared to move her red lines on the Brexit deal.
‘The point of the exercise is to say there is a majority for a close economic relationship if you are prepared to try to find it and I said we should test that by having a vote on the Customs Union,’ Mr Starmer said.
‘The Labour Party has some concerns about the backstop but we absolutely accept that it’s inevitable that we need a backstop. At this stage of the exercise, the Article 50 window is almost being closed now so we need a backstop.’
He added: ‘I am concerned that with 46 days to go the Prime Minister is simply running down the clock, mindful that the next EU summit is March 21 and if she is trying to run the clock down, Parliament has to step in with a hard stop to say we are not going to accept that.’
Mr Starmer met with representatives from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions before he spoke with Tánaiste Simon Coveney.
His visit came as the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier vowed that the EU will not make any more concessions on the Brexit deal – insisting the UK must give ground.
Mr Barnier attacked the ‘negative’ British stance ahead of a meeting with the UK’s Brexit secretary Steve Barclay. Speaking in Luxembourg yesterday, he said: ‘It’s in London where they have to find the ways and means to build a positive majority between the two negative majorities that exist today in the House of Commons.’
Urging Mrs May to consider the ‘interesting in tone and in content’ Labour position, he warned ‘something has to give on the British side’.
‘It’s inevitable we need a backstop’