Labour ask 170 questions but can’t even answer one – what’s their migration policy?
LABOUR was unable to say whether it wants to cut immigration yesterday – despite demanding dozens of answers from the Government over Brexit.
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry tabled 170 questions ministers ‘must answer’ before triggering Britain’s exit from the EU.
But tackled on her party’s own stance, she was unable to answer even the most basic questions – refusing five times to say whether Labour wants to cut immigration.
Tory sources dismissed Labour’s blizzard of questions, warning that answering them would leave the UK boxed in during negotiations.
And Miss Thornberry’s tactic backfired as Labour’s stance on both immigration and Brexit unravelled.
Jeremy Corbyn tried to exploit Tory differences on Brexit at Prime Minister’s Questions, telling Theresa May she had ‘no strategy for negotiating’. The Labour leader claimed ‘jobs and incomes of millions of our people are at stake’ if Britain leaves the EU’s single market.
But minutes later, his spokesman suggested he would rather see the UK leave the single market than continue with the EU’s state aid rules.
Mr Corbyn has long railed against the rules, which limit the ability of socialist regimes to nationalise industries or prop up failing sectors with taxpayer subsidies. The rules prevent governments providing undue subsidies to domestic firms or favouring them in procurement deals.
His spokesman said freeing Britain from the rules would be a ‘red line’ for Labour in Brexit negotiations. He added: ‘Whether inside or outside the EU, we don’t want the continuation of some of those restrictions … they are restrictions on things which are necessary for an effective reforming government to take. Whether or not people consider that to be part of the single market is a matter for debate, but in terms of access to the European market that is one of the red lines we have set out.
‘We don’t accept the existing state aid rules … by extension if we are outside the EU we don’t want those rules to apply to a negotiated deal.’
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said this week that retaining full access to the single market is a ‘red line’ for Labour, warning that leaving would be ‘devastating for jobs’.
But most experts believe acceptance of EU state aid rules is an essential requirement of retaining access to the single market, as they help guarantee a level playing field.
On the issue of mass immigration, aides to Mr Corbyn said last month that he was ‘relaxed’ and ‘not concerned’ about reducing numbers.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer appeared to signal a new approach at the weekend when he said immigration ‘should be cut’.
But Miss Thornberry refused to endorse this, repeatedly dodging questions on the issue during a BBC interview. She suggested immigration might be reduced if British workers were offered better training to do jobs now filled by migrants.
‘Our position is that we need to be open to the idea of reasonably managed migration,’ she said, but added that ‘nobody who voted in the Brexit referendum voted to take away someone else’s job, no one voted for our economy to be undermined’.
Britain’s top law officer will appear before High Court judges today to argue against attempts by a group of lawyers to force a parliamentary vote on activating Article 50. They argue the EU vote was merely ‘advisory’.
Attorney General Jeremy Wright says the case is a bid to try to re-join the EU ‘through the back door’.