Corbyn red lines: Customs union and guarantee of worker rights
JEREMY Corbyn last night said he would press for Britain to remain in a customs union and protect workers’ rights as he agreed to talks with Theresa May to break the Brexit deadlock.
The Labour leader said he was ‘very happy’ to sit down with the Prime Minister in an attempt to agree a plan that allows the country to leave the EU with a deal.
Mr Corbyn stressed that he would take a list of demands including a move towards a softer Brexit and increased worker protections. But he appeared to have dropped his call for a second referendum – not mentioning it in his list.
Mr Corbyn said he would not set any ‘limits’ ahead of the meeting, but added: ‘Labour has put forward our proposals to ensure there is a customs union with the EU, access to vital markets and protections of our standards of consumer, environmental and workers’ rights – and we’ll ensure that those are on the table.
‘We’re also very clear that there has to be an absolute guarantee that the Good Friday Agreement is maintained for peace in Northern Ireland.’
He added: ‘So far, the Prime Minister hasn’t shown much sign of compromise, but I’m pleased that today she’s indicated she’ll accept the view of Parliament and is prepared to reach out and have that discussion.’
Mr Corbyn said he recognised that Mrs May had ‘made a move’ and he had a ‘responsibility to represent the people who supported Labour in the last election and the people who didn’t support Labour but nevertheless want certainty and security for their own future’.
He insisted: ‘That’s the basis on which we will meet her and have those discussions.’
But he also warned that Labour would ‘hold in reserve’ the option of tabling a confidence motion in the Government if it ‘proves it is incapable of commanding a majority in the House of Commons’.
Mr Corbyn’s agreement to meet Mrs May comes less than a fortnight after he was accused of ‘ extraordinary, juvenile’ behaviour by walking out of a crucial Brexit meeting with her because Labour defector Chuka Umunna was also in the room.
As a member of the breakaway Independent Group, Mr Umunna had been invited by the PM along with other oppo
‘He recognises PM’s made move’
sition representatives. Mr Corbyn’s refusal to be in the same room was contrasted with his previous willingness to sit with members of the terror group Hamas – when he went as far as calling them his ‘friends’. He explained his reluctance to join the former Labour MP at the meeting by complaining that Mr Umunna ‘wasn’t a proper party leader’. But critics slammed such behaviour at a time when Britain’s future was hanging in the balance.
Mr Corbyn last night faced pressure from some of his MPs to maintain his demand for a second referendum.
Labour MP Alex Sobel, who is part of the Best for Britain campaign, warned that the party should not help deliver the PM’s deal.
He said: ‘This would be a leap in the dark when we know the crucial negotiations on our future relationship would end up in the hands of a future Tory leader who won’t be bound by her promises.
‘We cannot be bounced into any sort of botched Brexit in fear of investing a bit more time in really getting this right. A bad Brexit could destroy British industries and our hard-won workers’ rights.’