Corbyn claims UK Brexit negotiations are ‘ chaos’
Jeremy Corbynh as warned thatfailure to reach a new trade agreement with the European Union would be “catastrophic” for British jobs.
The Labour leader, in Brussels for talks with senior EU figures, accused Prime Minister Theresa May of presiding over “chaos” in the Brexit negotiations.
He said that the government now needed to take action to get the talks back on track.
“The Prime Minister seems to have managed to upset just about everybody and have a warring Cabinet around her,” he said.
“It is up to her to get the negotiations back on track. We cannot countenance the idea that we just rush headlong into no deal with Europe. No deal with Europe would be very dangerous for employment and jobs in Britain.
“The idea of no deal would mean that World Trade Organisation rules would be implemented straight away in March 2019.
“It would be catastrophic for manufacturing industry jobs and we would have real problems all through the economy. I don’t want to see that. I want to see an agreement being reached.
“We have to realise the seriousness of the situation and the chaos in which our government is operating at the present time. It is a chaos of their own making.”
Mr Corbyn’s visit coincided with Mrs May’s attendance at the EU summit in the Belgian capital.
Hisschedule of meetings included an hour- long session with the EU’S chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, as well as a speech to European socialists.
In his address, the Labour leader warnedthat the left needed to come forward with a “radical alternative” to the “failed” policies of austerity if they were to counter the rise of the extreme right.
He said for too long the most prominent voices on the left had looked out of touch while right- wing nationalists reaped the benefits of a “broken” system.
“From Donald Trump in the US, Marine Le Pen in France and Ukip in Britain, to the worrying rise of the far right else - where in Europe, has provided fertile ground for the growth of nationalist and xenophobic politics,” he said.