CORBYN’S BREX IT BREAKDOWN
Labour leader refuses SIX times to say whether he’ll take Britain out of EU if he wins
JEREMY Corbyn’s policy on Brexit collapsed into chaos last night after he refused six times to guarantee he would take Britain out of the EU if he becomes prime minister.
At the launch of Labour’s election campaign in Manchester yesterday, the party leader pledged: ‘ This election isn’t about Brexit itself – that issue has been settled.’
But within hours his claim fell to pieces after he let slip that he could scupper the country’s exit from Europe if he is allowed into Downing Street.
In an excruciating interview, Mr Corbyn repeatedly dodged questions over whether he would go through with Brexit ‘come hell or high water’. Last night the Tories warned that Mr Corbyn’s ‘ chaotic incoherence’ showed how Brussels would ‘make mincemeat of him’ in Brexit negotiations. It came as:
Mr Corbyn insisted he would ‘carry on’ as Labour leader even if he lost next month’s election;
He suggested he could turn down any Nato request for Britain to send more soldiers to Afghanistan to strengthen efforts against the Taliban;
He vowed to increase corporation tax from 19 per cent to 26 per cent to pay for smaller class sizes and handouts to college students;
An activist who introduced Mr Corbyn at a rally last month quit her post in the party’s student wing after writing a string of racist, antiSemitic and homophobic tweets;
A bag carrier to union baron Len ‘ Red Len’ McCluskey was handed one of Labour’s most prized safe seats in Liverpool.
Mr Corbyn’s election launch turned into a disaster after he failed to answer basic questions about his stance on Brexit.
Asked by BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg if Britain would definitely leave the EU if he became prime minister, Mr Corbyn at first evaded the ques- tion by speaking about the French presidential election. He said: ‘Look, there’s a clear vote in the referendum a year ago. But there is now the negotiations which have already begun.
‘I sent a letter to president-elect (Emmanuel) Macron congratulating him on his election and also setting out in broad terms what our aims are in these negotiations.
‘To have good relations with Europe, of course; secondly, to make sure there is a trade access, a tariff free trade access, to European markets. Thirdly, that we will of course protect the rights of EU nationals living in Britain which we will do straight away and that we will also ensure that the regulations that we got from the European Union such as Working Time Directive and employment conditions will be defended and maintained. It has to be put very clearly.’
Pushed on whether ‘we would be leaving if you were prime minister’, Mr Corbyn said: ‘ We will go into the negotiations with the determination to achieve what I’ve just outlined.’
Miss Kuenssberg interrupted: ‘But forgive me, Jeremy Corbyn, that’s not quite my question.
‘My question is if you’re prime minister, will we leave come hell or high water whatever is on the table at the end of the negotiations?’ He replied: ‘We win the election, we’ll get the good deal with Europe.’ Miss Kuenssberg asked: ‘But you won’t say then that we might potentially stay or we might... just to be completely clear because people will want to know this. If you’re prime minister, we will leave whatever happens?’
He said: ‘I don’t know any more than you do exactly what is going to happen in the future on this, but I do know we are not approaching this from megaphone diplomacy. We’re not approaching this from threats.’
An exasperated Miss Kuenssberg tried again: ‘ But forgive me, Jeremy Corbyn, this is a very important point to lots of people.
‘If you are prime minister can you categorically say that we would definitely leave because if you won’t there is a chink of a possibility that things could change and we might end up looking differently at our options?’
He refused to answer, before she asked for a sixth time: ‘So you won’t address that point specifically?’
Mr Corbyn replied: ‘We are nego-
‘Chaotic incoherence’ ‘I’ll stay leader of this party’
tiating a trade arrangement with Europe and protection of the things that we’ve gained from the European Union.’
Brexit Secretary David Davis said last night: ‘The chaotic incoherence of Jeremy Corbyn’s approach to Brexit means that the 27 other EU countries would make mincemeat of him in the negotiations. This morning he said he was settled on leaving the EU – this afternoon he can’t say whether he will do it.
‘We simply cannot take the risk of Corbyn in Downing Street in four weeks’ time negotiating Britain’s future. If you want strong, stable leadership through Brexit and beyond, you have to vote for Theresa May and her local Conservative candidate on June 8.’
Ahead of his speech in Urmston, Manchester, Mr Corbyn told website BuzzFeed News he would be ‘carrying on’ regardless of the result on June 8. ‘I was elected leader of this party and I’ll stay leader of this party,’ he said.
LEAVE aside the utter confusion over Labour’s Brexit policy after Jeremy Corbyn refused six times to guarantee he would take Britain out of the EU.
Forget the consequences for our defence, foreign policy and security if this lifelong campaigner for unilateral nuclear disarmament and friend of Islamist extremists comes to power.
Just think of the economic carnage if Mr Corbyn and John McDonnell put their Marxist theories into practice, with sharp tax rises to fund a ballooning State.
Today, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research – no natural friend of the Tories – forecast that Britain will be the fastest growing major economy in Europe over the next two years.
Can anyone imagine it would have made such a prediction if it thought Mr Corbyn had the ghost of a chance of power?