It’s time for Corbyn to back a ‘no-deal’ Brexit

The Labour leader must follow his political instincts and start arguing for a clean break with the EU

Since 17.4 million people voted to leave the European Union in 2016, the Government has wasted time indulging in feeble negotiations. These have eventually yielded a Withdrawal Agreement that wouldn’t actually withdraw us from very much.

Now, though, a window of opportunity is opening up for the UK. Beyond the smokescreen of confusion within our majority Remain Parliament, a straightforward path to economic development, political stability and true national sovereignty has emerged. If the Government won’t take it, then it is a golden opportunity for the Labour Party.

Jeremy Corbyn should take the lead by calling for the UK to leave the entanglements of the Brussels bureaucracy. That means discarding Mrs May’s Withdrawal Agreement and opting instead for what is sometimes referred to as a no-deal Brexit; life within the simpler and more accommodating framework of the World Trade Organisation.

Anyone who reads the detail in the Withdrawal Agreement will realise immediately that the scaremongering about the WTO is as nothing compared to the truly frightening implications of the document the Prime Minister wants us to vote for. It primarily seems to be a mechanism to embed the UK in the EU indefinitely.

The backstop, which sets Northern Ireland apart from the rest of the UK, has been the focus of most scrutiny and is indeed an outrage. However, the concentration on this one aspect has obscured many other provisions that also severely constrain our nation’s future scope for independent action.

The enactment of the Withdrawal Agreement will, for example, be governed by a “joint committee” of UK and EU representatives. These decisions will, in effect, have the same legal force as the agreement itself. But who knows what traps lie in the 500-page plus text, and there is no provision for Parliament to have a role in its application or interpretation.

And while we may be able to negotiate trade deals with other countries around the world, we will not be able to implement them until we reach agreement with the EU on our future relationship.

All told, the Withdrawal Agreement really would leave us far more in than out – and ultimately the EU will have little incentive to try to move beyond it towards a proper free-trade deal.

Faced with this, I would like to see my party leader seizing on the positives of a complete break.

This would not be “jumping off a cliff ” – as those Remain MPS who support either a second referendum or the revoking of Article 50 might put it. We know that the Civil Service is putting in place the arrangements needed for a smooth, managed exit. This would actually provide more certainty for business, by making clear from day one the situation facing them. What’s more, we would keep the £39 billion payment to the EU, and would be able to negotiate immediately with any country interested in a trade deal.

At the same time, we could continue to work towards a new trading relationship with the EU. Article 24 FOLLOW Kate Hoey on Twitter @Katehoeymp; READ MORE at telegraph.co.uk/ opinion of WTO rules allows for a tariff-free period while this is being done.

In return, we would become a truly free nation, with future UK governments having the sovereign power to enact all the legislation promised in their manifestos.

Everything that was routinely the full responsibility of Parliament before it mutated in a transmission belt for EU regulations – tax rates, employment law, environmental law, defence – would once again be in the hands of our own ministers. General elections would truly matter once again. For Labour, this would mean the ability to promise and then deliver truly radical policies – virtually impossible now under EU law.

Jeremy Corbyn is ideally placed to seize this opportunity by trusting his political instincts and the millions of Labour supporters who voted Leave. He must stay true to himself and demonstrate his confidence in our country’s future by embracing a clean break with the EU.

Those Labour supporters across the country who put their trust in their politicians to honour the referendum result will never forgive us if we fail them. It’s over to you, Jeremy.

Kate Hoey is co-chairman of Labour Leave and MP for Vauxhall