Tory chair rejects Brexit olive branch offered by Jeremy Corbyn
2 min read
The Conservatives have flatly rejected the Brexit olive branch Jeremy Corbyn offered in his keynote Labour conference speech.
The Labour leader said his party would support Theresa May in parliament if she returned with a “sensible” deal from the European Union.
But Tory chair Brandon Lewis said the deal Mr Corbyn outlined would not be acceptable to the UK as it would not allow trade deals outside of Europe to be struck.
In his speech closing the Labour conference in Liverpool yesterday, Mr Corbyn said he wanted to “reach out” to the Prime Minister as she grapples with the Brexit negotiations.
“If you deliver a deal that includes a customs union and no hard border in Ireland, if you protect jobs, people’s rights at work and environmental and consumer standards - then we will support that sensible deal,” he said.
“A deal that would be backed by most of the business world and trade unions too. But if you can’t negotiate that deal then you need to make way for a party that can.”
But speaking to the Evening Standard today, Mr Lewis shot back: “Look, I would hope the Labour party and all parliamentarians would back the prime minister’s deal.
“The problem with what Labour outlined is that would not allow us to do global trade deals and therefore doesn’t respect the referendum.”
Pro-Brexit Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has previously warned Mrs May that the party will split if she uses Labour votes to push an agreement through parliament that would leave the UK too closely tied to the EU.
Meanwhile, Labour MP Barry Gardiner last night said the party was ready to “bend” its red lines on Brexit if it means preventing the UK crashing out of the bloc without a deal.
Labour sources insisted to PoliticsHome that the six Brexit tests the party set the government would still have to be met before it could back a deal.
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