Jeremy Corbyn insists no Labour MP will back Boris Johnson's ‘Trump deal Brexit’ plan
3 min read
Jeremy Corbyn has branded Boris Johnson’s latest proposals to the European Union a “Trump deal Brexit” which he insisted no Labour MP would support.
The opposition leader said the plans were “simply unworkable” and “a cynical attempt” to shift the blame for failure to reach an agreement onto Brussels.
However his claim that no colleagues could back the proposal, regardless of if it is agreed with EU officials, marks a challenge to more than a dozen of his own MPs who could support a deal in order to get Brexit over the line.
The Prime Minister’s proposal includes abolishing the backstop arrangement and replacing it with checks at ports in the Irish Sea and away from the border on the island of Ireland.
Speaking in the Commons, Mr Corbyn said: “Deal or no deal, this Government’s agenda is clear: they want a Trump Deal Brexit."
"A Trump Deal Brexit that would crash our economy and rip away the standards that put a floor under people’s rights at work that protect our environment and protect our consumers.
"No Labour MP could support such a reckless deal that would be used as springboard to attack rights and standards in this country.”
The PM's pitch would see Northern Ireland leave the EU's customs union in 2021 but continue to apply many of its single market rules with the consent of the Stormont assembly every four years.
Mr Johnson said: “This government’s objective has always been to leave with a deal. And these constructive and reasonable proposals show our seriousness of purpose.
“They do not deliver everything that we would have wished. They do represent a compromise.
“But to remain a prisoner of existing positions is to become a cause of deadlock rather than breakthrough.
“And so we have made a genuine attempt to bridge the chasm, to reconcile the apparently irreconcilable. And to go the extra mile as time runs short."
He added: “This government has moved, our proposals do represent a compromise and I hope the House can now come together in the national interest behind this new deal.”
The European Union has yet to formally rule on the proposals, which come a fortnight before the crunch EU Council Summit, by which Mr Johnson hopes to strike a deal.
MPs passed a bill last month that means if there is no agreement by 19 October, then he must write to the bloc asking for an extension until January – which he has so far insisted he will not do.
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, said his party remained ready to vote Mr Johnson down in a vote of no confidence and remove him as PM.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats have so far said such a vote should not go ahead until a Brexit extension is guaranteed.
"Boris Johnson's half-baked Brexit proposals are even worse than Theresa May's,” Mr Blackford said.
“They are unacceptable, unworkable, undeliverable and designed to fail - but no one will be fooled by this botched Tory attempt to shift blame for a catastrophic no-deal Brexit.”
“The Prime Minister must obey the law and seek an extension - or resign.
“The SNP stands ready to bring this government down in a Vote of No Confidence - we will do everything we can to get rid of Boris Johnson, secure an extension, prevent a no-deal and call an election.”
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