Brexit would go ahead if Labour won snap election, says Jeremy Corbyn
The Labour leader says he would聽seek to secure a better deal than the one struck by Theresa May to allow Brexit on 29 March.
Saturday 22 December 2018 13:03, UK
Jeremy Corbyn says Labour will continue with Brexit if the party wins a snap general election in the new year.
The Labour leader said he would seek to secure a better deal with Brussels than the one struck by Theresa May to allow the UK to leave EU on 29 March.
In an interview with the Guardian, he said it would be a "matter for the party to decide" Labour's position on a second EU referendum after facing calls from some of his own MPs to back a People's Vote.
But he added: "My proposal at this moment is that we go forward, trying to get a customs union with the EU, in which we would be able to be proper trading partners."
Mr Corbyn also attacked the EU over its rules on state aid and competition.
He said: "I think the state aid rules do need to be looked at again, because quite clearly, if you want to regenerate an economy, as we would want to do in government, then I don't want to be told by somebody else that we can't use state aid in order to be able to develop industry in this country."
Mr Corbyn said he was "extremely angry" during heated exchanges at prime minister's questions last Wednesday when he appeared to call Theresa May a "stupid woman".
He insists he said "stupid people", not "stupid woman", despite a team of lip readers telling Sky News he "clearly" used the latter phrase.
Addressing criticism from Tory MPs over the alleged remark, Mr Corbyn told the Guardian: "It's interesting their sudden concern about these matters. Where is their concern about the homeless people of this country?"
MPs will begin debating Mrs May's withdrawal agreement on Wednesday 9 January - parliament's second day back after the Christmas break.
The original vote was scheduled for the start of December - but was pulled the day before by Mrs May because she feared a "significant" defeat.
Former Conservative chancellor George Osborne, who was sacked from government by Mrs May in 2016, has said the prime minister made a "massive mistake" in adopting her "Brexit means Brexit" motto when she entered 10 Downing Street.
Claiming Remain-supporting Mrs May "had to prove her Brexit credentials", he said: "That was essentially a massive mistake by the Conservative administration, which it was punished for at the general election because the Conservative Party decided to embrace the Brexit result in such a way as to essentially dismiss the views of those who voted Remain, treat them as saboteurs or traitors, and run against urban Britain."
Mr Osborne, who now edits London's Evening Standard newspaper, claimed the chance of another general election in 2019 is "an under-reported likelihood" due to it being "the simplest way to solve political impasses" over Brexit.
Having quit as an MP last year, Mr Osborne said that if he had stayed in parliament he would now have to be "going along with a whole load of things which I profoundly disagree with", such as putting the military on standby to deal with the possible consequences of a "no-deal" Brexit.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Of course I think 'perhaps I should have stayed' and I could have been part of this melee in the Conservative Party at the moment.
"I would have essentially tried to steer a) the country away from the rocks to which it is heading at the moment and b) the Conservative Party away from a prolonged period of opposition, which is where I think it is heading unless it engages more with modern Britain."