Labour poised for a ‘seismic’ Brexit U-turn
‘Could be prejudicial’
LABOUR was on the brink of a major Brexit U-turn last night after senior figures said the party wants to stay in an EU customs union.
Jeremy Corbyn will risk accusations of betrayal when he outlines the policy on Monday in a shift aides claim will be ‘seismic’.
Senior Labour figures said the party’s new stance would include forming a customs union with the EU, even though it would make it impossible for Britain to strike independent trade deals.
The move could pave the way for a Commons alliance between Labour and Tory Remainers.
Strategists believe that inflicting a defeat on Theresa May over the issue could even bring down her Government and force an early election.
Government sources yesterday confirmed key votes on the issue have been delayed until after Easter.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Labour could even end up backing a second referendum. He and Mr Corbyn are lifelong Eurosceptics, but have come under intense pressure from their union paymasters and party members to soften their stance.
A customs union enables countries to trade freely without tariffs or customs checks. But it also requires members to adopt common tariffs and trading positions with the rest of the world.
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said Labour wanted to form a new deal that would ‘look pretty much the same as the customs union we are in now’.
She told LBC Radio it was the only way to resolve the Northern Ireland border issue and avoid ‘lorry parks at Dover’, adding: ‘We cannot see how anything else can work.’
But she acknowledged it would mean Britain could only strike new trade deals with major markets like the US ‘in partnership’ with the EU.
It comes despite shadow international development secretary Barry Gardiner warning last year that such a move would be ‘a disaster’. He said it would mean Britain relying on the EU to sign new trade deals while having no say over the terms.
Speaking last July, he said: ‘The EU could do a deal with another country, let’s say America, which we would be bound by in the UK, we would have to accept the liberalisation of our markets, we would have to accept their goods coming into our markets on the terms agreed by Europe, which could be prejudicial to us. It’s a disaster.’
Asked about his comments, Miss Thornberry said: ‘We have been talk- ing about this and Barry agrees we need to be in a customs union when we leave.’
Pro-Brexit Labour MP Frank Field last night said it risked betraying the millions of party supporters who voted to leave the EU in 2016.
He said: ‘For Labour supporters in the North who backed Brexit, this will be a problem. We risk losing Labour voters if we go down this week.’
Tory Remainer Anna Soubry welcomed the apparent shift, saying: ‘It is gaining cross-party support… it would be in the national interest if the Government and official opposition also backed it.’
Earlier, Mr McDonnell said Labour policy on Brexit was ‘evolving’.
He said the party did not support remaining in the single market as people might ‘not feel that was respecting the [referendum] result’.
But he said Labour was ready to back membership of a customs union with the EU, even though this would limit Britain’s scope for striking trade deals around the world.
He added: ‘Our position is yes, we want to see on the table “a” customs union negotiation, not “the” customs union. We think there could be a reform.’
Tory Craig Mackinlay said: ‘A lot of Labour’s heartland areas voted very heavily to leave – I think Labour will ignore them at their peril.’